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Direct air capture (DAC) systems that capture carbon dioxide (CO2) directly from the atmosphere are garnering considerable attention for their potential role as negative emission technologies in achieving net-zero CO2 emission goals. Common DAC technologies are based either on liquid–solvent (L-DAC) or solid–sorbent (S-DAC) to capture CO2. A comprehensive multi-factor comparative economic analysis of the deployment of L-DAC and S-DAC facilities across various United States (U.S.) cities is presented in this paper. The analysis considers the influence of various factors on the favorability of DAC deployment, including local climatic conditions such as temperature, humidity, and CO2 concentrations; the availability of energy sources to power the DAC system; and costs for the transport and storage of the captured CO2 along with the consideration of the regional market and policy drivers. The deployment analysis in over 70 continental U.S. cities shows that L-DAC and S-DAC complement each other spatially, as their performance and operational costs vary in different climates. L-DAC is more suited to the hot, humid Southeast, while S-DAC is preferrable in the colder, drier Rocky Mountain region. Strategic deployment based on regional conditions and economics is essential for promoting the commercial adoptability of DAC, which is a critical technology to meet the CO2 reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past two decades, Turkey has experienced a noteworthy increase in the establishment of universities and enrollment of students across various degree programs. However, this surge in higher education has been accompanied by a growing number of unemployed higher education graduates. To address this phenomenon, this research conducts a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between different levels of tertiary education, undergraduate, master's, and Ph.D. (Doctorate) and unemployment. The study utilizes TurkStat's regional database, covering data from 26 provinces in Turkey spanning the years 2008 to 2021. Prior to delving into coefficient analysis, the Dumitrescu and Hurlin (2012) panel causality test was applied to identify the direction of potential causality and to establish an accurate model. The findings suggest a potential causal relationship running from being a higher education graduate, at all levels (bachelor's, master's, and PhD ), to unemployment rate. Subsequently, to further scrutinize this relationship in light of causality findings, the Panel Augmented Mean Group estimator (AMG) was employed. The results indicate that a 1% increase in the total number of Bachelor's degree graduates is associated with a 1.16% increase in unemployment rate. Based on these findings, it can be argued that, instead of further investing in higher education, a policy approach targeting middle-skilled jobs through advanced investment in vocational high schools may be more cost-effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents initial findings on the establishment of a social logistics project in a peripheral rural region in Germany. As part of a real-life laboratory, two services were developed and tested with the aim of improving rural supply: the delivery of regional goods and the return of online orders in cooperation with a regional public transport provider, regional retailers and parcel services. An evaluation team provided support to the project in identifying, monitoring, and documenting the societal impact of the services and promoted impact-oriented project management. The concept of providing services of general interest through social logistics and testing them in a real-world laboratory was based on preliminary work in the region. The results indicate that this approach can promote this type of social logistics in the long term. A social logistics approach does not focus solely on economic aspects but emphasises social and environmental benefits for the region. A real-world laboratory approach enables an environment that promotes open exchange, involvement of different stakeholders and joint problem solving in a reflective, iterative process. This methodological approach enabled the continuation and out-scaling of the service's core offerings immediately after ending the test phase and is seen as an important prerequisite for establishing a long-term perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A metropolitan area comprises a collection of cities and counties bound by strong socioeconomic ties. Despite the pivotal role that metropolitan areas play in regional economics, their delineation remains a challenging task for researchers and urban planners. Current threshold-based delineation methods select counties based on their connection strength with prespecified core counties. Such an approach often neglects potential interactions among outlying counties and fails to identify polycentric urban structures. The delineation of a metropolitan area is fundamentally a spatial optimization problem, whose objective is to identify a set of counties with high interconnectivity while also meeting specific constraints, such as area, contiguity, and shape. In this study, we present a novel spatial optimization model designed for metropolitan area delineation. This model aims to maximize intercounty connection strength in terms of both industry and daily life. This approach ensures a more accurate representation of the multicore structure that is commonly seen in developed metropolitan areas. Additionally, our model avoids the possibility of holes in metropolitan area delineation, leading to more coherent and logical metropolitan boundaries. We provide a mixed-integer programming formulation for the proposed model. Its efficacy is demonstrated by delineating the boundaries of the Nanjing and Lhasa metropolitan areas. This study also delves into discussions and policy implications pertinent to both of these metropolitan areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does the quality of international relations between countries affect regional economics? The question of how much economic change can be attributed to the trajectories of international politics is difficult to answer, because different factors over time can influence economic development. This research uses synthetic control and difference-in-differences methods to evaluate the impact of the normalisation of cross-strait relations in 2008 on regional economic growth in Jiangsu province. Based on data from the Regional and China Year Books from 1990 to 2015, Jiangsu province, a region with prominently close economic ties with Taiwan, witnessed a CNY 20,726.52 (around GBP 2328.35) increase in per capita GDP from 2008 to 2015, compared with the counterfactual in the absence of normalised cross-strait relations. There was an annual increase of approximately CNY 2961 Yuan (around GBP 333). This research has important implications for acknowledging the relationship between the quality of political relations and their economic impact on confrontational countries and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An effective and accurate poverty-alleviation system is necessary for eradicating poverty and promoting regional economic and social growth. Performance evaluation plays a key role in developing a precise poverty-alleviation policy. However, systematic performance evaluation of precise poverty-alleviation efforts has been largely ignored in the literature. This study sorts the poverty-alleviation performance of 10 major urban areas in Shaanxi Province using the count and analysis method. The empirical findings show that among poverty indexes, the yield of agricultural products has the greatest impact on poverty alleviation. Furthermore, the poverty-alleviation performance of Xianyang, Weinan, and Ankang is relatively high. The efforts of Xi'an and Baoji are at the middle level, and those of Tongchuan and Yan'an are at a relatively low level. This paper identifies the poverty alleviation performance status for each area at the indicator level and then offers a corresponding analysis and proposes countermeasures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the contemporary world, finance is crucial to economy and financial agglomeration has a lasting effect on the economic growth. The areas of financial agglomeration will influence the economy of the local parts throughout agglomeration effect, and have an impact on its spatially related parts. Based on Chinese inter-provincial panel data from 2007 to 2018, this study constructs an indicator system of financial agglomeration and measures provincial agglomeration levels to examine its impact on regional economic growth. The results show that, first, the level of financial agglomeration has a trend of steady change and presents a ladder-decreasing agglomeration pattern. Second, financial agglomeration could effectively promote the economic growth of local and spatially related regions. The development of the financial industry depended more on geographical distance, and the diffusion effect of financial agglomeration in the eastern, central, and western regions are in different stages. Finally, by summarizing the research conclusions, this study put forward some suggestions for China's regional economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: During the eighteenth century, officials from different colonial powers attempted to turn the viceroyalty of the New Kingdom of Granada—present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Panama—into an economically viable territory. The Spanish Crown embraced its most radical jurisdictional reform in centuries to exercise effective state control, extract more revenue, and defend the colonies from foreign incursions. This article explores the particularities of New Granada’s economic governance and argues that colonial officials produced local discourses of political economy to turn unfamiliar spaces into familiar places for economic, political, and military ends. In doing so, producing knowledge about the land and its resources became a key bureaucratic practice that shaped the imagining of a paradoxical territoriality in Northern South America. First, I detail the impact of political economy frameworks on imperial governance and bureaucratic practices. I then showcase how administrative narratives, mapping projects, and fiscal networks reveal the workings of Bourbon economic governance and the search for regional integration. Methodology: This article is built from an analysis of archival documents consisting of a selection of evidence from chorographic texts about New Granada and its provinces produced between 1720 and 1808. Originality: Reflecting on the ways in which the pursuit of knowledge for wealth creation affected the creation of territorialities contributes to uncovering how the imperial political economy was never a top-down imposition. Local officials negotiated it vis-à-vis singular geographical realities and knowledge production practices. Conclusions: Chorographic texts were central devices of imperial reform. The search for wealth production and territorial integration occurred in colonial outposts, not in intellectual treatises in Europe. In forging New Granada as an integrated, potentially rich place, bureaucrats’ experience of moving across the territory and inscribing the landscape on paper shaped perceptions of cohesion and difference, economic dependence, and regional fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the contemporary world, finance is crucial to economy and financial agglomeration has a lasting effect on the economic growth. The areas of financial agglomeration will influence the economy of the local parts throughout agglomeration effect, and have an impact on its spatially related parts. Based on Chinese inter-provincial panel data from 2007 to 2018, this study constructs an indicator system of financial agglomeration and measures provincial agglomeration levels to examine its impact on regional economic growth. The results show that, first, the level of financial agglomeration has a trend of steady change and presents a ladder-decreasing agglomeration pattern. Second, financial agglomeration could effectively promote the economic growth of local and spatially related regions. The development of the financial industry depended more on geographical distance, and the diffusion effect of financial agglomeration in the eastern, central, and western regions are in different stages. Finally, by summarizing the research conclusions, this study put forward some suggestions for China's regional economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognizing the role of society in the sustainability of payment system innovation through the quadruple helix framework, this study analyzes the causal influence of demand-side financial inclusion indicators on society's uptake of digital payment solutions (DPS) within the regional economy of the Gulf Cooperation Council. To this end, the present study relies on data extracted from Global Findex surveys (in 2014 and 2017), as well as the economic theory of random utility maximization, to model individuals' DPS uptake decisions "ceteris paribus." The maximum likelihood estimation revealed no gender-based gradient in DPS uptake behaviors; additionally, financial inclusion indicators such as transaction account ownership and debit card ownership did not significantly influence endogenous or exogenous DPS uptake decisions between 2013 and 2017. However, all remaining financial inclusion indicators did significantly influence DPS uptake. Assessing these findings through the lens of open innovation and the ongoing efforts from the Arab Regional Payment System project, which seeks to expand financial inclusion by facilitating access to transaction accounts, there is reasonable evidence to suggest that complementary financial inclusion policies addressing the use dimension of DPS (i.e., extending access to saving and borrowing, along with digital payroll practices for both private and public enterprises) would contribute to more effective policy on financial inclusion in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effects of an oil boom on manufacturing plants performance. First, we derive several predictions using a model of heterogeneous firms. Second, we test these predictions on a plant level dataset using the Canadian Annual Survey of Manufacturers for 2000-2010. We exploit the time variation of the booming natural resource sector revenue in an oil-producing area in combination with the location of manufacturing plants to create an exogenous treatment variable. The outcome variables include plant level wages, employment, sales, and exports. We find that initial plant level productivity provides an important differentiation in average plants effects. Plants that are more productive become more likely to export in response to the oil boom, while less productive plants become less likely to export. Exporting firms become more likely to increase wages relative to non-exporting firms, but less likely to increase employment. While there is a great variety in the effect by sector, we do not observe that industry linkages with the resource industry drive plant performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examined finance-growth nexus in the finance industry and the influencing factors of economic indicators which deliberate on the performance of the Solow Growth model to prove the actuality of financial development (FD) inside the economic growth (EG) model, based on the regional data from 1980 to 2017 in Africa. We applied the econometric method of GMM style panel vector autoregressive (PVAR) and panel quantile regression (PQR). With the optimal finance-growth outcome, the review shows that the economic indicators influence the finance-growth nexus. The quantile results show that high economic indicators help to strengthen the finance-growth nexus, whereas low economic indicators hinder it. The GMM style PVAR results present a mixed effect in terms of the connection and marginal significance, indicating that FD has a varied impact on economic growth. Last, the granger causality results show a two-way causal association amid finance-growth in Western, Central, Eastern, and Southern African economies and a unidirectional causal link of finance-growth in Northern Africa. The policy conclusion is that to gain the long-term economic benefits of FD, African countries should strive for low and steady economic stability. To attain the required economic stability, it may be important to use suitable fiscal and monetary policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to break the bottleneck of the human capital stock restricting local economic growth in the typical western regions with backward national economic development, a research on the analysis of the impact of human resources on the economic development of ethnic regions based on data mining is proposed. On the basis of systematically reviewing the current situation and the theoretical basis of the relationship between human capital and economic growth, the method of combining normative research and empirical research is adopted, and the theories of macroeconomics, development economics, and regional economics are synthesized. In the research, the human capital and economic development in a certain western region are analyzed by establishing an econometric model. The results show that the average value of each year is taken as the inspection index, and the contribution rate is 0.0012, which shows that the contribution of human capital stock in economic growth is very small, indicating that physical capital stock is still the main driving force for local economic development. It is concluded that the research provides some relevant recommendations for human capital development to achieve sustainable local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The severity of the 2007–2008 global financial crisis and the spatial heterogeneity of its impact have accelerated the study of regional economic resilience. However, few have investigated whether pre-crisis determinants impact regional economic resilience. This study explores the factors influencing regional economic resilience across 284 Chinese cities from 2003 to 2019. We use data from the National Bureau of Statistics in China and apply a multilevel logistic regression model. The results indicate the magnitude of the province effects on regional performance during the financial crisis. The results show that regional economic resilience is significantly shaped by provincial trajectories and region size. Furthermore, economic agglomeration, manufacturing, education, infrastructure, and financial development make regions less susceptible to external shocks and more resilient to financial crises. The results provide supportive evidence for governments to adopt region-based policies and thereby improve their performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional development disparities, especially in developing countries, have traditionally been one of the central issues of empirical research in regional economics. However, this rapid change is accompanied by profound changes in the spatial distribution of economic activities in China, the formation of regional economic "blocks," the widening of regional disparities, and the geographical concentration of economic growth efficiency are important issues highlighted in this change. Therefore, it is important to explore the spatial clustering characteristics and patterns of regional economic growth to provide a scientific basis for relevant government departments to formulate reasonable regional development strategies and promote the balanced and stable development of economic growth. Clustering analysis is an important research topic in the field of data mining, which is used to discover unknown object classes in large-scale data sets. This paper proposes a density-clustering algorithm based on the regional economic competitiveness of China and analyzes its spatial aggregation characteristics. From the perspective of spatial structure theory, economic development is a dynamic process, and to optimize the spatial pattern of China's regional economic development and improve the efficiency of economic interaction between regions, it is necessary to fully exploit the diffusion and trickle-down effects of important growth poles in the region to the surrounding areas. The experimental results show that the error rate of KSNN is very small, and the error rate of K-means and PSO has increased to a certain extent. Therefore, it can be obtained that the density-clustering algorithm based on the regional economic competitiveness zoning method in China can find out the correct clustering results without the given clustering individual cases. Thus, it is important to grasp the current situation of regional economic agglomeration and reveal the driving factors of agglomeration formation to promote the coordinated development of regional economy and guide the spatial layout of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of tourism in China has also caused a lot of energy consumption and serious environmental problems. In the context of sustainable development, low-carbon tourism has become the consensus of management departments, relevant industries, and academia. In environmental-related fields, DEA is considered as an excellent efficiency analysis tool because of its powerful optimization ability. The final variable of DEA method is weight. In order to avoid the influence of human factors with predetermined weights in tourism analysis, this paper studies the evaluation of tourism ecological efficiency based on DEA model. China's overall tourism ecological efficiency showed a fluctuating upward trend, rising from 0.853 in 2018 to 0.906 in 2021. The national average efficiency over the past four years is 0.855, which is at a low level, indicating that the construction of tourism ecology is still in its infancy, and there is still much room for improvement in the future. As the tourism industry system involves many aspects, such as natural ecology, humanities, economy, and so on, it is an extremely complex system. The research on the ecological efficiency of tourism cannot simply rely on the knowledge system and thinking of a single discipline. Therefore, combined with the relevant theories and knowledge of tourism, management, industrial economics, regional economics, industrial ecology, and other disciplines, this paper makes a systematic study on the problems and countermeasures of Qiaozhai. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The forecast of capital demand has the characteristics of uncertainty. There are known and unknown information about the capital demand for regional economic development. In fact, there are also some in between, that is, uncertain. Consumption is the ultimate goal of production and a key link in realizing a virtuous circle of economic development. This paper uses the GM (1, 1) model to compare the predicted value of the test area with the actual value in 5 years, and the loudness is as high as 90%. Under the guidance of the profit model, the regional economic capital demand has a decisive influence on the regional economic development. The predictive analysis model of capital needs is conducive to fully mobilizing the impact of infrastructure construction of all parties and is an important factor affecting economic development. The mathematical model proposed in this paper is helpful for deepening the research on the management of regional economic development and enriching the theoretical system of regional economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education plays an important role in the construction of a new growth engine of China's economy under the new normal state. If innovation is likened to a new engine of economic growth in China, higher education is equivalent to energy and fuel provided by the engine energy for intellectual support and knowledge support. Based on Denison factor analysis, the panel data of 30 provinces in the east, middle and west of China from 1997 to 2014 was used to conduct the Cognitive computing for decision-making and choice about the impact of higher education level of human resources on China's economic growth. The results show that the output elasticity of material capital gradually decreases from west to east, while the output effect of higher education increases gradually from west to east. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The present study takes the regional economics perspective to explaining new firm registrations. It focuses on the driving role of unemployment rate in the process of new business formation. Purpose of the article: The main goal of the study is to investigate the effect of regional unemployment (next to other regional characteristics) on subsequent new business formation in Polish regions for the period 2003-2018. The research hypothesis assumes that a rise in unemployment rate has a positive effect on subsequent new business formation. The positive unemployment push effect is expected to be stronger in operational services. Methods: In order to verify the links between unemployment rates and entrepreneurship, panel data methods (fixed effect Driscoll-Kraay and p-VAR estimators) were applied. The analyses were performed at the industry level (manufacturing, construction, wholesale and retail, hotels and restaurants, and financial services) using regional annual data for the period 2003-2018. Findings & value added: This study provides further insight into the unemployment push hypothesis by distinguishing between industry sectors and by considering regional specificities in post-communist economies (e.g. Poland). The findings provide value for policy-makers regarding the selection of policy instruments intended to stimulate regional development through entrepreneurship in lagged areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Assessing the urban rooftop photovoltaic (PV) economics is important for scaling up rooftop PVs for rapid decarbonization. In this study, socioeconomic, technological, and policy factors were integrated into a rooftop PV economic assessment. This comprehensive method was applied to 21 cities in the Guangdong province of China, in combination with local real parameters. The results show that, with higher urbanization levels, electricity tariffs, and PV self-consumption rates, cities in the Pearl River Delta area generally had better economic performance in terms of both economic scale and profitability. They accounted for 75% of the total rooftop PV potential in Guangdong Province and had an internal rate of return (IRR) as high as 14.6–19.2% for Commercial and Industrial buildings (C&I), and 9.9–15.9% for residential buildings (R). Socioeconomic, technological, and policy factors jointly affect the economic performance and create a promising future for Guangdong rooftop PVs. It is projected that the IRR of current worst performing cities will grow by 4.9–5.8, and 4.4–5.9 percentage points, and the payback period will be shortened by 5.8–6.7 and 3.4–4.1 years by 2030 for R and C&I buildings, respectively. Among the three factors, technological advancement had the most significant long-term effect, followed by socioeconomic development. Policy factors play an important role in alleviating short-term cash flow pressure. Integrating the three factors in the assessment provides us with a more comprehensive picture of how urban rooftop PV economics will evolve and a better idea of how to prioritize rooftop PV development. Suggestions for prioritizing the deployment of rooftop PV systems in Guangdong by 2030 were provided. • Socioeconomic, technological, and policy factors were integrated into the urban rooftop PV economics assessment. • An orderly deployment plan for urban rooftop PVs in the Guangdong province of China is proposed. • The technology factor had the most significant effect on rooftop PV economic trends through capital cost reduction. • Socio-economic development contributes to higher electricity demand and revenue. • Policy factors play an important role in the short term in alleviating the cash flow pressure through preferential loan rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a conceptual framework and a strategic idea for China's green urbanization from the perspective of ecological civilization. The existing urbanization model — whether the activities carried out in the city or the city's organization form — is largely a product of the traditional industrial era. China must think outside the traditional industrial box and promote green urbanization based on ecological civilization which is the fundamental solution to address the unsustainable development of cities. Green urbanization is more like "building cities in (natural) parks", rather than "building parks in existing cities", that is, creating a prosperous economy without destroying but making full use of the natural ecological environment. This means there will be profound changes to the development concept, the activity carried out in the city, the city's organizational logic, and the implications of the regional economy. China's green urbanization based on ecological civilization should focus on three basic tasks and two strategies. The three tasks are to reshape the existing cities, urbanize the newly added population in a green way, and redefine the rural areas. The two key strategies are to realize green urbanization of urban clusters that account for more than 90% of the national GDP, 70% of the total population, and 30% of the land area; and to urbanize county-level areas where about 60% of the national population resides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research presents an overview of the evolution of regional economic studies in Peru. After a brief introduction, the document presents a summary of the different conceptions of space in Regional Economics through time. In addition, the document shows the origins of Regional Economics, as well as the factors that explain the interest in the development of regional studies in the Latin American context. This document also explains the importance of the geographical space of Peru for regional research. Indeed, the country is the perfect setting because Peru has a wide geographic diversity (ecosystems, microclimates) throughout its territory, it has implemented a variety of public policies to propose economic growth measures, and it has many social issues to propose territorial policies (migration, crime, health, employment, among others). Despite these characteristics, regional research in Peru is relatively less than in other Latin American countries. Finally, the document offers the contributions and criticisms of the regional studies in the Peruvian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension may be influenced by multiple factors, including social and individual determinants. Regional and individual economic disparity in China is closely associated with such factors that may give rise to diverse health outcomes. This study examines the relationship between regional economic development, household income, gender and hypertension prevalence in China.Methods: This study utilized data from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB), a population-based study on half a million Chinese adults from 10 geographically distinct regions. Hypertension was identified by a measured systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure ≥ 140/90 mmHg or receiving treatment. Regional economic development was inferred from GDP per capita at the time of the study. A logistic regression based method was used in calculating the prevalence of hypertension in different household income, regional economic development, and gender groups, adjusting for demographic, social-economic and lifestyle factors.Results: The prevalence of hypertension was the lowest in the medium GDP per capita areas in both male (31.62, 95% CI: 31.26-31.98%) and female (22.85, 95% CI: 22.50-23.19%) as compared to that in the low GDP per capita regions (male: 32.75, 95% CI 32.41-33.08%; female: 32.12, 95% CI: 31.78-32.47%) and high GDP per capita areas (male: 39.74, 95% CI: 39.33-40.16%; female: 35.19, 95% CI: 34.74-35.65%). There was an inverse relationship between hypertension and household income in the low and high GDP areas and an U-shaped association in the medium GDP per capita areas. Higher hypertension prevalence was observed in males across all GDP per capita areas. The negative correlation between hypertension and household income (across all GDP per captia areas) was stronger in females than in males.Conclusions: The present study underlined the important influence of regional economic development, household income and gender on hypertension. Interventions for hypertension prevention and management should take into consideration the influence of sex difference and socioeconomic disparities at both micro- and macro- levels, in addition to a person-centered approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sale of wild animals, including protected species, may relate to regional differences in socio‐politics, culture, and economic development. A better understanding of how these factors affect the illegal wildlife trade is therefore necessary to optimize the deployment of conservation resources and policing. To evaluate these factors in relation to the trade‐in protected animals as pets, we surveyed China's popular consumer‐to‐consumer website, Taobao.com (analogous to eBay), and found that over 70,000 individual live parrots and turtles (totaling 46 and 49 protected species, respectively) were sold in just 150 days. Using analyses that attempted to account for species richness estimation and autocorrelation effects, we identified that regional economics promoted the occurrence and extent of pet sales. The provenance of these traded animals was ambiguous, but their vast numbers raise two concerns: if any proportion was sourced illegally from the wild, it is of conservation concern; whereas any bred illegally in captivity raise animal welfare concerns, because this would be unregulated. In the context of rapid economic development in China, it is thus important to reform the legislation that currently allows these commonly traded pet species to slip through the net intended to police animal welfare and illegal animal trading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: Total factor productivity (TFP) determines how efficiently and intensely the available inputs are used and combined in production process. Improvement of TFP performance requires identification of its determinants, thus enabling policy actions to focus on them. Since the ability to create and absorb innovation is considered as a crucial factor of economic development, the investigation of the impact of the level of regional innovative performance on TFP distribution across EU regions is an important research problem. Purpose of the article: The aim of the paper is twofold. Firstly, we attempt to develop a theoretical framework for the analysis of the impact of innovation on TFP. Secondly, we assess TFP levels for regions in the EU and investigate whether innovations account for the observed regional disparities in TFP. Methods: The research sample consists of 202 European Union (EU) regions at NUTS 1 and NUTS 2 level from 22 countries. The regional data on GDP, employment and gross fixed capital formation come from the Eurostat. The source of data on the level of innovativeness of European regions is the Regional Innovation Scoreboard. To calculate TFP, we use the multiplicativelycomplete Färe-Primont index. In turn, to examine the impact of innovation on TFP, we employ the spatially-lagged X model. Findings & Value added: Our findings show a high degree of dispersion in TFP across EU regions. We find a positive impact of regional innovation performance on TFP. Although theoretical papers on economic development and regional economics suggest that improvements in TFP are key to regional economic performance, and that innovations are crucial to gain such productivity effects, there is a dearth of empirical studies on the link between innovation and TFP at the regional level. Therefore, our paper attempts to fill this gap by providing the evidence of positive effect of innovation externalities on TFP in European regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proliferation and scope expansion of regional organizations (ROs) is one of the most prominent features in contemporary international politics. In particular, many regional economic organizations (REOs) have expanded into the security realm. This trend has often resulted in an overlap with regional security organizations (RSOs) already in place. This study sheds light on this phenomenon by identifying the conditions under which REOs trespass into the security policy domain despite the fact that preexisting RSOs already fulfill security functions. We argue that the presence of strategic rivalries is an important driver of the creation and depth of organizational overlap through scope expansion. Specifically, RSOs that include significant interstate rivalries propel a subgroup of like-minded states to advance and deepen security cooperation through their existing REOs. Using an original data set of security cooperation within economic and security ROs and a quantitative analysis, we find substantial support for this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global warming has aroused the attention all over the world, because not only can it directly damage the living environment, but it can also impact on the social and economic development, of a region in an obvious and far-reaching way. In this paper, we builded a trans-log production function model incorporating variables, such as rainfall, labor force, technology and temperature to simulate how climate changes impacted on the regional economics. Time series data of the domestic economy of Nanjing, a city in the southeast China, between 1996 and 2017, were used to verify the production theory of trans-log production frontier. The results showed that: with the rainfall increased and the temperature declined, the climate impact on the economy and the absolute value of the output elasticity of the frontier diminished. In addtion, the climate change was also positively related to the capital investment. The larger variation of temperature negatively impacted on the economic development. • This paper builds a trans-log production function model. • Time series data are used to verify the production theory of trans-log production frontiers. • Analyzing the effect of climate change on the regional economy. • The larger variation of temperature negatively impacted on the economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New Member States have been part of the Single market since joining the European Union in 2004. This step brought various challenges in each of these countries because of appreciable difference in competitiveness compared to old EU Member States. This article puts to the test the competitiveness of the Czech meat industry. This is one of the most important parts of the agri-food production, which is still a very important part of regional economics in less developed regions. Thus, it represents cultural heritage of the countryside. The main aim is to investigate specific branches of the Czech meat industry according to their competitiveness on the Single market. In the article, we make conclusion on different states of the competitiveness of three main branches of the Czech meat industry, which represents 85.6% of the overall meat export. Conducted research provided information on positive change in the export during the observed period of time, but the comparison of absolute export and import numbers did not refer to a positive development of the Czech meat industry. Furthermore, we observed tendency to locate meat production near local markets and in developed regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • A 30 × 30 m coupled model of economics, land-use, and ecosystem services is constructed. • A dynamic and spatially explicit ecosystem service index is developed. • Reference scenario is compared to an ecosystem preservation district scenario. • Ecosystem district policy is a critical tool for mitigating ecosystem impacts. • Strategies for policy scenario analysis and stakeholder engagement is proposed. Abstract A comprehensive understanding and modeling of socio-ecological systems can better assess how human-induced urban growth affects ecosystem service. This paper demonstrates a comprehensive socio-ecological system modeling approach to identify ecosystem service impacts that result from human activities within large, complex urban systems. It adds to the existing ecosystem impact assessment approaches by integrating spatiotemporal and socio-ecological process model with dynamic interaction and feedback between models and policies. The approach couples regional economics, urban land-use, and ecosystem interactions in a fine scaled (30 × 30 m) modeling framework with multiple time steps and feedback. The coupled model fuses a regional econometric input-output model with a dynamic land-use allocation model that spatially allocates the residential and commercial lands that are needed to satisfy the identified economic changes on an annual basis. A dynamic and spatially explicit index is constructed to measure the potential impacts of the economic/land use interactions on available ecosystem services. A scenario analysis is performed to test various ecologically oriented policy outcomes against noted ecosystem service impacts. The Chicago metropolitan region constitutes the study area with forecasts to 2040. Analysis results prove that models without inclusion of feedback dynamics and uncertainties could significantly under-estimate resulting ecosystem service impacts without. The scenario simulation shows a significant land-use developmental pattern restructure occurs when preservative policies are reinforced and significant ecosystem service loss reduction can also be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the issue of environmental awareness in the regions of the Russian Federation. For this purpose, an index of environmental awareness at regional level is derived as a latent variable from various categories of search entries in Yandex, the prominent Russian search engine, during two periods in the years 2014 and 2015. The frequency of these search requests presumably depends on certain economic and socio‐economic causes, which are integrated into the model for further investigation. The relation between regional wealth and environmental awareness is thereby of particular interest. The multiple indicators‐multiple (MIMIC) causes model allows us to estimate an index of environmental awareness and to rank the Russian regions according to this index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of this research for our country is based on the need for the building of entrepreneurial potential because many social-economic parameters depend on the development of entrepreneurship, particularly at the level of competitiveness, innovation, performance, pricing, inflation, and the employment and income of the population. The objective of this paper is to develop recommendations for growing entrepreneurial potential in Perm Krai, one of the largest regions of the Volga Federal District. The leading methods for the investigation include analysis of theoretic sources, analysis of statistical data from open sources, and comparison of this data. The achievement of effective results in building entrepreneurial potential of Perm Krai depends on applying collective joint efforts of federal, regional, and local authorities as well as public organizations and by creating infrastructure for the support of businesses A t the same time it is important to ensure consulting, assistance and training for businesses, as well as to inform the business community about business opportunities in other regions of Russia and to develop international connections. This paper can be of practical significance for the improvement of the institutional arrangements of realization of entrepreneurial potential realization in Perm Krai as well as in other regions of the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: In recent years, special attention has been given to the research direction regarding the study of economic, social, and demographic aspects of regional development. This direction is especially important for transition countries, including Ukraine. Despite that, there is a lack of research studies in which interdependencies of economic and demographic indicators of Ukraine's regions are investigated. Purpose of the article: The paper assesses the relationships between the selected indicators of Ukrainian regions (export of goods per capita, foreign direct investment per capita, and the average resident population) and gross regional product per capita. Methods: Research results were compared in the periods before and during the military conflict in the eastern part of the country, based on regional data for 2010 and 2015. We used a multiple linear econometric model and tested multicollinearity. Findings & Value added: The analysis confirms that there is a positive correlation between export of goods and gross regional product and between foreign direct investment and gross regional product. That is why it is necessary to pay attention to the effective use of existing trade opportunities, especially within the framework of the Ukraine -- EU Association Agreement, and to elaborate directions for further expansion of export activities. It is important to provide simpler and more understandable conditions in order to attract foreign investments in Ukrainian regions. Our study also shows that there is no influence of the average resident population on gross regional product. In many aspects, the interaction between demographic and economic components takes place through the labour market. This situation indicates that insufficient attention is given to regional employment issues, and the quantitative and structural imbalance is observed on the labour market at the regional level. In our opinion, to improve the situation, targeted activities should be elaborated on in the frame of regional development programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this research is to examine the challenges that have impeded the progression of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa to a full regional economic community and explore prospects for the institution to be transformed to a competitive regional economic community by 2025. Hence, the research concludes that the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa has faced several challenges including persistent protectionism, inadequate political will and high occurrence and recurrence of conflicts among other factors that have slowed down its culmination to the desired full regional economic community. This research is informed by wide evidentiary base which includes policy papers, organisational reports and news, newspaper articles and journal articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Transboundariness” refers to a new approach that identifies and prioritizes transboundary aquifers using socio-economic and political criteria, improving their characterization by using other variables in addition to their mere physical boundaries. This approach is applied to the hydrogeological units/aquifers shared by Mexico and Texas, with the following results. First, the rankings agree with the current level of attention to transboundary aquifers in the region by both countries, providing a quantifiable system that could be tested in other transboundary aquifers. Second, this approach provides a holistic and integrative perspective for transboundary aquifer assessment and prioritization. Third, this prioritization exercise expands the criteria currently used into a more integrative regime of groundwater links to the community as a whole. Finally, the results reflect not only how the transboundary aquifers are being used (or neglected) but also the socio-political context of the populations that depend on these resources for current and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key problems of the unstable development of regional economic systems and the weakening of the sustainable economic growth in the regions are revealed at the present stage of the national economy functioning and the economic reforms implementation in Ukraine. The methodological approach to the sustainable social and economic development of the region as to the effective land resources use is proposed. The mechanisms of land resources effective use in accordance with the policy of sustainable social and economic development of the region are substantiated. The main directions of the regions problems solution on the way to ensuring efficient market-oriented and ecologically balanced regional development of agricultural land use are determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops an empirical, multi-layered and spatially-explicit agent-based model that explores sustainable pathways for Aberdeen city and surrounding area to transition from an oil-based economy to green growth. The model takes an integrated, complex systems approach to urban systems and incorporates the interconnectedness between people, households, businesses, industries and neighbourhoods. We find that the oil price collapse could potentially lead to enduring regional decline and recession. With green growth, however, the crisis could be used as an opportunity to restructure the regional economy, reshape its neighbourhoods, and redefine its identity in the global economy. We find that the type of the green growth and the location of the new businesses will have profound ramifications for development outcomes, not only by directly creating businesses and employment opportunities in strategic areas, but also by redirecting households and service businesses to these areas. New residential and business centres emerge as a result of this process. Finally, we argue that industries, businesses and the labour market are essential components of a deeply integrated urban system. To understand urban transition, models should consider both household and industrial aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyses the structure and level of international cooperation among African states in the area of agriculture and rural development. It focuses on the African Union (AU) and its eight Regional Economic Communities. The international cooperation schemes between the World Bank, EU, FAO and African countries in agricultural policy are reviewed. The paper concludes that, despite numerous cross-border initiatives, governance of agricultural policies in the pan-African context remains fragmented. Policy-making and cooperation schemes need to be stepped up to address continent-wide challenges in the sector. There is an urgent need for the AU and the EU to intensify their cooperation in agricultural policies and development. The AU in collaboration with its regional bodies should establish a common agricultural policy for the continent. Such initiatives need to be Africa-driven and adapted to African needs. The EU should only provide technical know-how and institutional support if welcomed by African partners. Collective action towards rural areas via greater coordination of African agricultural policies and actions would help to develop the missing institutional framework needed for agricultural development in the continent. Fostering economic growth through agricultural development and reforms may also lead to a reduction of migration as witnessed by the EU in the sixties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although extant studies proposed various models and frameworks for sustainable supplier selection problems, they paid limited attention to the incorporation of regional economic, social, and environmental factors simultaneously for global supply chain design due to the difficulty in reflecting various dimensions of the global business environment and their associated risks in a decision model. Existing supplier selection models also tend to focus on the formulation of a simplified supply chain structure rather than considering more realistic supply chain operations under multiple sourcing and product designs. To facilitate the complex decision-making process of global supplier selection problems, this study proposes an integrated approach that consists of two phases to effectively reflect the multi-perspectives of global supply chain design for sustainability. The first phase identifies sustainable supplier regions through multi-attribute utility theory, considering four regional sustainability indices for economic and social factors in global business and logistics, to reflect the decision maker's risk attitudes on global business opportunities. In the second phase, a multi-objective integer linear programming model for multiple sourcing and multiple product designs that minimizes economic and environmental objectives is applied to find optimal suppliers and their order quantities in the regions selected from the first phase. The proposed approach is illustrated through a bicycle supplier selection case study. The results show that the multi-objective sustainable decision under a multiple sourcing strategy for different product designs leads to a supply chain that is significantly different from the single-objective non-sustainable decisions. The case study under different decision scenarios shows that a decision maker should hold a balanced perspective under the multi-objective decision environment for sustainable supply chain design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The scope of this research is to make quantitative estimates of the potential economic and employment impacts of renewable energy self-sufficiency. The study aims to make generalizations on a regional, or even national level, and to give directions for future research. This paper analyses direct monetary values and employment impacts in two regions, in a theoretical situation where all energy is produced by renewables from the respective region. Renewable energy, especially utilization of existing but presently unused resources, can play an important role in vitalizing regional economies, especially in rural areas. The money spent on fossil energy could be kept circulating in the regional economy. The amount spent on energy in the research areas was almost €4860 per capita per year, totalling more than €300 m annually. The existing data shows that there is the potential for self-sufficiency, or even surplus production. The results suggest that the regional economic impacts increase considerably if the region is self-sufficient in raw materials, including intermediates. On a larger scale, e.g., nationally, the loss of jobs in the fossil energy industry and the eventual variations within economies potentially based on renewable energy, will affect the overall impacts. There is at present insufficient scientific literature, knowledge or quantitative data for analysing these impacts thoroughly. This paper contributes to filling this gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A three-dimensional evaluation model was established to evaluate the carrying capacity of regional ecological environment to social economic development, based on the study on the relationship between environmental quality, ecological quality and social economy. It includes socio-economic subsystem, ecological subsystem and environment subsystem. X axis represents the level of ecological quality index; Y axis represents the level of environment quality index; Z-axis represents the level of socio-economic development index. The three-dimensional cube model divides into eight blocks of “I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII”, which represent different social and economic development levels and the integrated status of ecological environmental quality. It covers 25 indicators of social economic development, ecological quality, and environmental quality. Entropy weighting method was adopted to determine the weight of each index. Ecological quality index, environmental quality index and socio-economic development index were divided into three grades; the subsystem index of grade Ⅱ is taken as the inflection points Xip, Yip and Zip respectively. 11 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi province in China were used as a study on carrying capacity evaluation for regional ecological environment to social economic development by the three-dimensional evaluation model. The comprehensive evaluation index and indexes of each subsystem were calculated. The actual ecological environmental quality and socio-economic values of the study area were compared with the corresponding indexes. The study shows that the environment subsystem has a great influence on the comprehensive model. The comprehensive evaluation index of 11 prefecture-level cities in Jiangxi province has exceeded the medium value (grade Ⅱ ). Jiujiang, Ganzhou, Yichun and Shangrao in Jiangxi province are in the model block Ⅷ , other cities in Jiangxi province are in the model block Ⅴ . It shows that all cities of Jiangxi province are still at the intermediate level of carrying capacity and are in the development stage of economic and environmental coordination. The three-dimensional model effectively reflects the actual situation of regional ecological environment, provides a way for other regional carrying capacity evaluation. It is feasible and scientific, and the results are more intuitive, spatial, and visual. The model provides a reference for the macro-management and decision making of ecological environment in the government sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this study we estimate space‐time impacts of the embeddedness in R&D networks on regional knowledge production using a dynamic spatial panel data model with non‐linear effects for 229 European NUTS 2 regions in the period 1998–2010. Embeddedness refers to the positioning in networks where nodes represent regions that are linked by joint R&D projects funded by EU Framework Programmes. We find evidence that increasing embeddedness in EU funded R&D networks leads to positive immediate impacts on regional knowledge production, and that regions with lower levels of own knowledge endowments more likely exploit the positive effects. However, the long‐term impacts of a region's embeddedness in these R&D networks are comparatively small. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency has been receiving increasing attention across the world. This paper proposes an extended data envelopment analysis model, which combines global benchmark technology, directional distance function and a bootstrapping approach to investigate the dynamic trends of regional eco-efficiency in China from 2003 to 2014. Moreover, a developed slacks-based measure is utilized to decompose the performance fluctuations into resource, environmental and economic efficiency. Then, the key factors responsible for the changes in eco-efficiency are explored using the global Malmquist–Luenberger index. The empirical results demonstrate an upward trend of eco-efficiency in China. During the study period this trend was high in eastern and northern areas but low in northwestern areas. However, it should be noted that some eco-efficient regions still consume much land, water and energy and emit much environmental pollutants in absolute terms. The whole of China performs well on the economic front, while resource and environmental performances are not encouraging, particularly on environmental efficiency. The eastern and northern regions have experienced the greatest advances in both resource and environmental efficiency, while the undeveloped areas have not shown much progress, which further widens the gaps between developed areas and undeveloped areas. The decomposition of productivity growth indicates that technical progress is the decisive factor in promoting China's eco-efficiency, while decreasing management level is the major obstacle hampering the improvement in eco-efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the paper, the research is presented dealing with evaluation of regional higher education system of the Republic of Bashkortostan, with the region's economy structure and strategic development taken into account. The suggested approach allows identifying the level of a higher education institution's influence on development of the regional economy through the potential available in training of qualified personnel who the region needs, forecasting the higher education institution's influence level proceeding from its development strategy, and based on this figuring out prospects of the regional economy. The system of values for scoring the influence levels of the higher educational institutions has been determined and indices for assessment of the effect have been suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key public policy issue in regional economic development is whether governments should act pro-actively with strategies to achieve local economic growth. Using an Australian region, this article presents projections that test a number of such scenarios to establish whether pro-active strategies of investment provide the greatest growth. When developing pro-active strategies for a given region, economic and community development planners typically target specific industries. Key industries can be identified on the basis of high relative employment growth rates and connectivity with other industries. The case region in this analysis, not unlike other regions in Australia and across the globe, has undergone significant restructuring in recent years with a shift in its economic base from agriculture to mining. In light of the shifting nature of the regional and national economies, this article provides a foundation for building planning perspectives for the future of a regional economy using economic and population projections and scenario analyses. These analyses help highlight industrial sectors that should be targeted in the region's plans. Broader implications for regional economic development and planning generally are also drawn from the case experience. Developing projections for the growth of regional economies is no easy task. The complexities of inter-industry subsector interactions and the distinction between driving and adapting subsectors make formal modelling at the local level challenging and potentially prohibitive in terms of cost. These factors corroborate to make such bottom-up modelling beyond the capacity of most local organizations. By contrast, the approach used in this article is simple but requires care and intuition to bring these various factors together into a coherent set of projections. For the case region, optimal growth is possible provided that employment policy builds job specialization. This means directing strategies away from mining into agriculture and the trade and tourism related sectors, such as wine tourism. The economic base theory and scenario testing techniques used in this article demonstrate and deliver a useful contribution to the literature by exploring which industries contribute most to more diversified and sustainable growth. Through pre-emptive strategies, perennial growth of a regional economy can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The employment and population growth equilibrium model is extended to allow for differentiated linkages between rural and urban regions and among rural regions. The model is applied to examine the regional disparities within the rural economy of Northern Ireland between 2001 and 2007. To represent the theoretical idea of commuter shed, commuting data are used to construct the spatial weighting matrix. The results reveal positive rural-urban but negative rural-rural linkages, suggesting that rural regions benefit from economic growth in urban regions but compete with each other. The direct and indirect spillover effects are shown using simulation examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we estimate the technical efficiency of Mexican states using stochastic production frontier models. The empirical section uses panel data over the period 1988-2008. A distinctive feature of the paper is the use of socioeconomic and location data in order to control for the heterogeneity of the states. We find that crime rate negatively affects the efficiency of the states and that its effect is only significant after a certain level. Our results also show that education and productive specialization shift the production frontier upwards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]