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The breakthrough potentials of research papers can be explained by their boundary-spanning qualities. Here, for the first time, we apply the structural variation analysis (SVA) model and its affiliated metrics to investigate the extent to which such qualities characterize a group of Nobel Prize winning papers. We find that these papers share remarkable boundary-spanning traits, marked by exceptional abilities to connect disparate and topically-diverse clusters of research papers. Further, their publications exert structural variations on a scale that significantly alters the betweenness centrality distributions in existing intellectual space. Overall, SVA not only provides a set of leading indicators for describing future Nobel Prize winning papers, but also broadens our understanding of similar prize-winning properties that may have been overlooked among other regular publications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antonio Iodice, I University of Exeter and University of Genoa i SESSION 2: HISTORICAL LABOR MARKETS The Economics of Gender-Specific Minimum-Wage Legislation During the 1910s, twelve U.S. states passed and implemented the country's first minimum-wage laws. First, where rivers shift states form, and existing states expand their capacity. Lee J. Alston, I Indiana University i , Marie Duggan, I Keene State College i , and Julio Ramos, I Pennsylvania State University i SESSION 11: FINANCIAL DEVELOPMENT Financing Industrialization in Russia and Germany A large literature debates what system best promotes the accumulation and allocation of capital, especially in late-industrializing countries, where capital market imperfections may be severe. In contrast, this paper leverages detailed firm-level data from late 19th-century Sweden showing that a sharp increase in industrial tariffs has a heterogeneous impact across firms: Initially low-productivity firms see an increase in productivity while initially high-productive firms experience a decline. [Extracted from the article]

This paper examines the reality of Mauritanian women's participation in the labor market, aiming to highlight the challenges that hinder their entry into this market. It also studies the economic and social indicators contributing to women's participation in the labor market, including demographic changes, workforce developments, women's participation rates in economic activities, unemployment trends, and educational advancements among women. The paper concludes that Mauritanian women's participation in the economic field remains below expectations, alongside their limited involvement in managerial positions. It also notes that women predominantly work in the agricultural sector compared to their low representation in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational forms of infrastructure in China are divided into two categories, the traditional Public Procurement Model (PUB) model and Public–Private Partnership(PPP) model. The main difference is the separation or binding of the construction and operation phases. A systematic understanding is needed of how Chinese local governments choose between these two models. In this paper, we take public capital congestion and local government objectives as the entry point to study the effects of both on PPP choice. Firstly, by constructing an endogenous economic growth model under the PPP model, and comparing it with the model under the PUB model, this paper initially explains how the rise in public capital congestion affects the choice of the PPP by growth-oriented local governments. Then the data from prefecture-level cities from 2009–2018 are utilized to conduct empirical tests. We find that urban economic growth pressures have a positive effect on the choice of PPP when the congestion of public capital increases. Furthermore, the implementation of PPP is indeed conducive to economic performance, and its core mechanism is to provide more infrastructure (like roads) rather than tax competition. The PPP model is more sustainable. We are the first to employ both modeling approach and the empirical research to address the implementation of Public–Private Partnership in China. And we have systematically analyzed the conditions and results of PPP selection by local governments. It formulates the Chinese PPP theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the research in the macroeconomic theory points to the fact that the most important economic aggregates at the level of the economy are: the gross domestic product, the level (rate) of unemployment and the inflation rate. The gross domestic product represents the most synthetic indicator of the total economic activities of a country, i.e. of the reached level of its economic development. This paper presents the methods for calculating GDP: the production, income and expenditure method. Also, in the focus of analysis of this paper are the classical models of economic growth, Keynesian models of economic growth, neoclassical models of economic growth and new models of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of human society and the production and operation activities of enterprises have brought about global warming, resulting in frequent natural disasters. It has become the consensus of all countries in the world to develop a green and low-carbon economy. Under this background, enterprises, as the main body of economic activities, especially energy industry enterprises, should optimize and upgrade the traditional production and operation mode with high pollution, high consumption, and low output to a high-efficiency and low-pollution mode, and pay attention to the co-ordinated development of economic benefits, social benefits, and ecological benefits. Financial performance evaluation indicators have become the main basis for senior leaders of energy industry enterprises to make decisions and evaluate the low-carbon economic benefits of enterprises. This paper constructs a set of financial evaluation index systems of energy industry enterprises under the background of a low-carbon economy from four dimensions: profitability, asset quality, debt risk, and business growth. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to measure the comprehensive contribution of financial indicators of low-carbon production and operation. The purpose of this study is to provide scientific financial management decisions for energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation under the background of a low-carbon economy. The research results show that the comprehensive evaluation index system after the traditional financial evaluation index of energy industry enterprises is integrated with the evaluation index of a low-carbon economy can help enterprises make more correct and effective financial decisions in the process of survival, development, and growth, and, at the same time, the financial evaluation index of a low-carbon economy should pay more attention to the indicators with a higher comprehensive contribution, so as to effectively promote the low-carbon operation efficiency of enterprise production, management, and sales. Compared with other research results, this paper innovatively constructs a financial management decision-making index system for measuring the low-carbon operation of energy enterprises in theory, which has important value in guiding energy enterprises to reduce costs and increase the efficiency and low-carbon operation in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cost estimating in the construction industry is challenging due to the high uncertainty associated with the supply chain, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic. Some research studies have addressed such problems by developing models that predict material cost. In fact, all material can be interconnected and interrelated with lead-lag relationships such that any inflation in one material's price can be associated with inflation in other materials' prices, referred to as transmission of inflation. Despite the latter, none of the existing studies have investigated inflation transmission among all construction materials. This paper fills this knowledge gap. The authors used a multistep research methodology. First, Producer Price Index (PPI) data for 16 construction materials were collected and sorted. Second, the vector autoregression technique was used to model the relationships between each pair of material and subsequently validate the associations using the Granger causality test. Third, network analysis was performed to identify the inflation transmission capacity (out-degree centrality), inflation susceptibility (in-degree centrality), and inflation intermediatory capacity (betweenness centrality) for each material. Finally, modularity-based clustering was conducted to categorize the materials based on their price indices' interconnections and examine inflation transmission path among different sectors of construction-related material. The results show that metals and plastic products are generally the highest transmitters of inflation to other construction material including "Fabricated structural metal products" and "Plastic construction products." Furthermore, the results show that "Concrete products," "Flat glass," "Brick and structural clay tile," and "Architectural coatings" are also high transmitters of inflation and thus can be key indicators of increase in the overall construction cost. This paper provides the industry stakeholders with leading indicators and early warning signs for the inflated material prices. Contractors and owners can utilize those warning signs to enhance their procurement plans and budgeting decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses the financial performance of crop production enterprises related to the costs associated with their innovation activity. We aim to determine influencing factors related to the digital transformation process, on the one hand, and on the other, explore the change in the economic performance of enterprises. For this purpose, we trace out enterprises' intangible assets and financial performance indicators. The study is based on a sample of enterprises, classified according to whether they disclose intangible assets in balance sheets. We use panel data collected on financial results, income, expenses, liabilities, and assets for five years. Both the Probit model and Fixed effects model are applied in an attempt to deepen the analysis. The results show that enterprises spend a negligibly small share of their revenue on innovation activities. Larger and more innovative crop farms with higher labour productivity have better financial performance. However, we found out that the higher value of return on assets does not affect enterprises' innovation decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ resource utilization (ISRU) activities are receiving increasing attention, both from space agencies and among the international science and industrial community. Prominent examples of ongoing ISRU space programs are the NASA Artemis program and the Terrae Novae program run by the European Space Agency. In technical sciences, there are at least three groups of activities related to ISRU: prospecting bodies in the context of space missions, technological investigations related to surface infrastructure and operations, and conceptual analyses of future mining activities. The present paper belongs to the third group and brings new insights into a potential open pit mine operating on the Moon. There are several novel contributions: the definition of the objectives of the mine, based on economic indicators; a conceptual description of a pit architecture dedicated to excavating ilmenite-rich feedstock; and a qualitative and quantitative description of the chosen processes and the mine's topology. In the paper, there are also added links to other papers connected with ISRU activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Livestock's live body dimensions are a pivotal indicator of economic output. Manual measurement is labor-intensive and time-consuming, often eliciting stress responses in the livestock. With the advancement of computer technology, the techniques for livestock live body dimension measurement have progressed rapidly, yielding significant research achievements. This paper presents a comprehensive review of the recent advancements in livestock live body dimension measurement, emphasizing the crucial role of computer-vision-based sensors. The discussion covers three main aspects: sensing data acquisition, sensing data processing, and sensing data analysis. The common techniques and measurement procedures in, and the current research status of, live body dimension measurement are introduced, along with a comparative analysis of their respective merits and drawbacks. Livestock data acquisition is the initial phase of live body dimension measurement, where sensors are employed as data collection equipment to obtain information conducive to precise measurements. Subsequently, the acquired data undergo processing, leveraging techniques such as 3D vision technology, computer graphics, image processing, and deep learning to calculate the measurements accurately. Lastly, this paper addresses the existing challenges within the domain of livestock live body dimension measurement in the livestock industry, highlighting the potential contributions of computer-vision-based sensors. Moreover, it predicts the potential development trends in the realm of high-throughput live body dimension measurement techniques for livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Methods Results Conclusions Indicators of surgical outcomes are designed to objectively evaluate surgical performance, enabling comparisons among surgeons and institutions. In recent years, there has been a surge in complex indicators of perioperative short‐term and long‐term outcomes. The aim of this narrative review is to provide an overview and a critical analysis of surgical outcomes indicators, with a special emphasis on hepato‐pancreato‐biliary (HPB) surgery.A narrative review of outcome measures was conducted using a combined text and MeSH search strategy to identify relevant articles focused on perioperative outcomes, specifically within HPB surgery.The literature search yielded 624 records, and 94 studies were included in the analysis. Included papers were classified depending on whether they assessed intraoperative or postoperative specific or composite outcomes, and whether they assessed purely clinical or combined clinical and socio‐economic indicators. Specific indicators included in composite outcomes were categorized into three main domains: intraoperative metrics, postoperative outcomes, and oncological outcomes. While postoperative mortality, complications, hospital stay and readmission were the indicators most frequently included in composite outcomes, oncological outcomes were rarely considered.The evolution of surgical outcomes has shifted from the simplistic assessment of crude mortality rates to complex composite outcomes. Whether the recent explosion of publications on these topics has a clinical impact in real life is questionable. Outcomes from the patient perspective, integrating social and financial indicators, are not yet integrated into most of these composite analytical tools but should not be underestimated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PurposeMotivationDesign/Methodology/ApproachMain findingsPractical implicationsNovelty/ContributionThe main objective of this study is to analyse the impact of auditor gender on audit fees, with a view to establishing whether there are any differences in audit price depending on the gender of the auditor.The existence of a gender gap in audit fees is a problem. In order to try to reduce this gap, it is necessary to understand the determinants of audit fees according to gender.The sample under analysis is made up of 3217 unlisted Spanish companies. In order to fulfil our aim, an audit fee model is put forward, applying a multiple linear regression analysis differentiated by auditor gender.The results point to an absence of any statistically significant association between audit fees and auditor gender. In contrast to other countries within the same context, Spanish female audit partners do not generate higher audit fees than their male counterparts; there is no female audit fee premium as there seems to be in other countries such as Belgium, France, Finland, China or the USA.Differences were found among the factors which determine audit fees; there tend to be fewer factors considered in audits signed by female auditors, with indicators related to the economic and financial situation of the company under audit excluded from the fees model. These results could be justified by differences between male and female auditors with respect to audit planning and efficiency.This paper is a contribution to the literature on gender in auditing, and offers up evidence on the impact of auditor gender on audit fees within a specific context that has not been studied in any depth, namely the Spanish auditing market for unlisted companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on 491 farmers joining in cooperatives microscopic data in Jiangxi Province,the paper uses Ordinary Least Squares to test the influence mechanism of cooperative green production on green performance, and takes environmental regulation as a regulatory variable to explore the relationship between cooperative green production and cooperative green performance. The results have shown that: (1) The green production cooperatives have a significant positive impact on their green performance, and the impact of green production on economic performance, social performance and ecological performance gradually strengthens from weak to strong; (2) Environmental regulations have a positive regulatory effect on the relationship between cooperative green production and cooperative green performance, among which three types of environmental regulations, namely, incentive, restraint and guided, can strengthen the positive relationship between green production and green performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper optimizes a ground replenishment strategy for large-scale LEO satellite constellations, aiming for ensuring high economic efficiency and performance requirements. Firstly, the uncertainties of influential elements are analyzed and satellite lifetime distributions are estimated to determine satellite operating statuses. Secondly, satellite statuses are used for obtaining real-time constellation status and simulating data package transmission paths. Performance degradation function is then derived by selecting time delay as the key performance. To confront with the performance degradation, an optimization model of ground replenishment strategy is established with the objective of minimizing the overall replenishment cost under the time delay and loading capacity constraints. The model is solved by a Dichotomous-domain algorithm. Finally, a case study of a large-scale STARLINK constellation is adopted to validate the effectiveness of the model and sensitivity analyses are conducted to verify its robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the main contributor of carbon emissions, the low-carbon transition of the industrial sector is important for achieving the goal of carbon dioxide peaking. Hydrogen-enabled industrial energy systems (HIESs) are a promising way to achieve the low-carbon transition of industrial energy systems, since the hydrogen can be well coordinated with renewable energy sources and satisfy the high and continuous industrial energy demand. In this paper, the long-term capacity expansion planning problem of the HIES is formulated from the perspective of industrial parks, and the targets of carbon dioxide peaking and the gradual decommissioning of existing equipment are considered as constraints. The results show that the targets of carbon dioxide peaking before different years or with different emission reduction targets can be achieved through the developed method, while the economic performance is ensured to some extent. Meanwhile, the overall cost of the strategy based on purchasing emission allowance is three times more than the cost of the strategy obtained by the developed method, while the emissions of the two strategies are same. In addition, long-term carbon reduction policies and optimistic expectations for new energy technologies will help industrial parks build more new energy equipment for clean transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we build a simple model on the role of households' liquidity preference in the determination of economic performance. We postulate, for the sake of the argument, a purely 'horizontalist' environment, i.e., a world of endogenous money where the central bank is able to fix the interest rate(s) at a level of its own willing. We show that even in such a framework liquidity preference, while obviously not constituting anymore a theory for the determination of the interest rate, continues to be a key element for the determination of both the level and evolution over time of aggregate income and capital accumulation. In our model, this happens because of the working of a mechanism so far unexplored in the literature, i.e., the endogenous variations of banks' policy of profits' distribution in response to changes in the liquidity preference of the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Commodity dependence is a long-lasting feature of South American economies, with far reaching effects in economic and social performance. This paper focuses in the interaction between commodity prices and real exchange rate and in its effects on productive capabilities. New-Developmentalist approach has labeled that situation as a "Dutch-Disease". I propose a Balance of Payment Constraint Growth model especially designed to address some specificities of commodity dependence that allow to theoretically analyze this issue. Empirical tests are conducted for the period 1970-2017. It is found that price surges are damaging for productive capabilities only in the context of the dismantling of state intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in political economy suggests that autocratic regimes have been moving from an approach of mass repression based on violence, towards one of manipulation of information, where highlighting regime performance is a strategy used to boost regime popularity and maintain control. While the evolving strategies autocratic governments use to legitimise their rule have been the subject of much analysis, the role of third parties in adding to such strategies is less examined. This paper argues that corporations confer legitimacy on autocratic governments through a number of material and symbolic activities, including by praising their economic performance. We trace out the implications of adopting legitimation as a key concept in the analysis of corporate relations to autocratic regimes. We identify the ethically problematic aspects of legitimation, present new quantitative evidence suggesting that corporate legitimation of regimes matters empirically and outline a research agenda on legitimation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a strong relationship between regional integration and economic performance. This paper investigates the impact of regional integration on macroeconomic indicators in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) – a trade block created by the former Soviet republics in 2014. This study compares two types of regional collaboration strategies: first, unilateral trade liberalization with the one-sided opening of market access that does not imply any mutual concessions, and second, reciprocal regional liberalization evaluated as the degree of regional economic integration between the countries. We apply a random effect panel data analysis with the dataset over 25 years since 1995 covering five countries (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia). We find that, under the current stage, the EAEU positively affects trade flows, negatively affects the level of employment, and has no impact on other economic performance indicators. We also conclude that despite the declared level of economic integration – customs union – Eurasian block functions mainly as a free trade area facilitating mutual trade, which is different from the broader objectives that regional integration aims to achieve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to make a conceptual and empirical contribution to our understanding of the effects of extra-regional assets and knowledge inflow, through mergers and acquisitions (M&A), in different types of regions. We revealed that the M&A market is not geographically homogeneous, and regions differ in all aspects of the M&A market: relative position, local density and foreign attractiveness, the same as in the M&A intensity. This heterogeneity is not random but follows a spatial pattern and differences in economic fundamentals of regions, but at the same time, there is no linear relationship between economic performance and M&A performance. The regional M&A market characteristics can explain differences in the impacts of M&A transactions on the economy, especially in the exit rate of companies after acquisition and in the change of employment. The impacts of M&A on the regional economy generally do not differ by sector of the acquired company. However, some patterns show that the negative effects are more present after acquisitions of firms in tradeable sectors in the less developed regions, whereas in the stronger regions, the most vulnerable sectors belong to the part of the economy which offers mundane, but occasionally purchased (and thus substitutable) goods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current knowledge-based economy, the abilities of the national research system are a key driver of the country's competitiveness and socio-economic development. This paper compares the scientific standing of the OECD countries and eight other relevant economies. We use a bibliometric indicator of research performance, applied first at the individual level. This approach avoids the distortions of the aggregate-level analyses extant in literature and practice, which overlook the different publication intensities across research fields. We find a strong correlation between research performance and the economic competitiveness of nations and a moderate but significant correlation between research performance and the propensity to spend on research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the financial determinants of the efforts of local government units (LGUs) to invest in the area of energy transition (ET). The main objective is to verify the links between the scale, directions, and funding sources of LGUs' investments in ET and their budgetary situation described by the level of income independence, budget result, and debt level. The general research hypothesis assumes that the ET investment activity of LGUs is associated with their financial situation. The analysis covers the period 2019–2022 and uses data from the questionnaire-based survey conducted in 2023 among 181 LGUs in the Podkarpackie region in southern Poland. Non-parametric tests were employed to verify the association between the LGUs' ET investment activity and their financial situation: the Chi2 test, the Mann–Whitney U test, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and the Kendall's Tau correlation. Financial aspects were shown to influence the scale of municipal ET investments, as well as the type of projects implemented. Among the analysed financial indicators, the debt level was the most important constraint for LGUs to make their own ET investments. The debt level not only determined the scale of municipal ET investment, but also influenced decisions on the type of investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the power generation structures and load characteristics in each province in China are quite different, the distribution of peak regulating resources and demands are extremely imbalance. Restricted by a low power marketization degree, peak regulating resource shortages, and transmission channel blocks, the efficient utilization of new energy is facing greater pressures. In order to improve the mutual aid in regional power grids and to obtain more precise simulation results, this paper proposes a two-layer optimization dispatching model, considering the mutual aid of peak regulation resources between each province. It determines the optimal startup mode and the units' power output in each province and obtains the power output arrangements for all the units and the technical and economic indicators. The model and the solution method are original and innovative. And it effectively solved the unequal distribution problem between the peak regulating demands and resources of each provincial power grid. Finally, taking an actual regional power grid in China as an example, the simulation results show that the proposed model can significantly improve the utilization rate of new energy, which verifies the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed model and methods presented in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate Brent Crude Oil price prediction is essential for informed decision-making and risk control in the global energy market. This paper examines the dynamics of Brent Crude Oil prices over the previous 35 years, utilizing predictive modelling techniques to project future prices and analyzing historical trends and relationships with the GDPs of major economies. The statistical methods used in this paper include the moving average and Pearson correlation coefficient. While correlation studies show significant positive links between Brent Crude Oil prices and the GDPs of major economies like China, Saudi Arabia, Europe, Russia, and the United States, historical data analysis reveals large price volatility. Highly accurate price forecasting using LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) modelling approaches provides detailed risk management and decision-making information in the global energy market. The application of the Neural Network and the ARIMA model shows an increase in the price of Brent crude oil in the next year, 2024. Identifying the importance of the Brent crude oil price forecast and its effect on the international market is highly needed. This paper thus might help to increase economic growth. These results highlight the importance of advanced modelling techniques and economic indicators in managing oil price changes and help make informed decisions in the energy industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, sustainable economic performance (SEP) has been the foremost requirement due to uncertainty of the economy and environment. This issue needs best practices and governance and also needs researchers' focus. Thereby, the paper aims to assess green supply chain (SC) practices, green SC governance and their role in the achievement of SEP in the manufacturing sector of China. The paper also attempts to explore the moderating effect of organizational support in proposed framework. PLS-SEM model was employed to test model's reliability and validity. The very same method has applied to test the linkage among outlined constructs. Obtained results confirms the moderating impact of organizational support among traditional governance, relational governance and the achievement of SEP in the manufacturing industry in China. This article provides guidelines to the regulators in developing policies related to the achievement of SEP using green SC practices and governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The production of plum and cherry, as stone fruit species, occupy a significant place in the plant agricultural activity of the Republic of Serbia. In this paper, on the basis of data from selected family holdings in the southern part of Serbia, the production results and evaluation of the economic justification of these two fruit species were investigated. Data collected through a survey were used for the research, and the economic evaluation was performed using static calculative methods. The most important economic indicators determined were: cost price, net profit (average amount), accumulativeness expressed through the rate and time period of investment capital. When producing plums, the average annual financial result is from 503,490 RSD/ha to 594,340 RSD/ha. The analysis determined that by investing RSD 100/ha in production of plum, 40 RSD is accumulated, and the average annual net profit is 425,313 RSD/ha. From the average amounts of net profit, investments made in raising plum trees plantations (1,080,000 RSD/ha) can be recovered during the third year of its exploitation. Although the yield of cherry per unit area is lower compared to the yield of plum, better economic results in the amount of 535,800 RSD/ha to 682,920 RSD/ha are achieved due to a much more favorable selling price per unit measure. For every RSD 100 invested in cherry production, 48 RSD of accumulation is achieved. The average net profit amounts to 492,099 RSD/ha, and the investments made in raising plantations of cherry trees (1,020,000 RSD/ha) can be recovered in the third year of its exploitation. In recent years, cherry have been very profitable fruit species in Serbia, due to the high demand and favorable selling price. With permanent education of fruit producers, as well as with various support measures at the state and local level, it is possible to contribute to the improvement of the existing business and improve the profitability of plums and cherry production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical assessment of the economic efficiency of grape-producing farms in Armenia. Upon reviewing various field-related studies the frontier analysis was singled out as a methodological base of this study. More specifically two-stage empirical analysis was performed, which includes the measurement of efficiency levels of grape farms by implementing the DEA technique and then assessing the determinants of obtained efficiency scores by performing Tobit modeling. To obtain necessary data, 365 grape farms from the Armavir region were surveyed. The main findings of this paper suggest that the average efficiency score for grape farms is 0.72, and there is room for improvement in the economic performance of farms with 28%. The main determinants of farm efficiency were cultivated grape varieties, farm size, and selling prices of grapes. The obtained results mainly support the findings of similar studies carried out for various viticulture regions across the world. This study provides some methodology bases for further expansion of similar studies both in terms of including the other Armenian viticulture regions and different years to explore the changes in the efficiency of grape farms over time. This article provides a base of knowledge for policymakers, scholars, researchers, investors, and credit companies for their decision-making processes and other purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are increasingly identified by planning authorities as catalysts for urban change. At a local scale, planning policy often positions the development of university sites as a way to reconfigure the social, economic, and built characteristics of an area. At a city‐wide scale, the development activities of universities emerge as central to wider metropolitan strategic ambitions. This is especially the case in cities, such as Sydney, Australia, where multiple universities are dispersed across the city. Increasingly universities have been identified in strategic planning policy as vital infrastructure able to influence the structure and function of the city. This paper reviews recent strategic planning processes in Sydney. Specifically, the paper reveals how universities emerge as central in pursuing global city status and economic performance, supporting existing centres and corridors, establishing new specialised centres and shaping a new urban spatial structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research background: The corporate debt situation can be considered a crucial factor influencing the future development of the financial performance of the firm. It is essential for every business entity to know its financial health, its strengths and weaknesses, and how its business has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and all the changes it has brought. Purpose of the article: The main aim of this paper is to explain and quantify the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyze changes in the growth of crucial determinants, and identify new trends in Slovak enterprises throughout the monitored period of 2018-2021. Methods: Hence, a statistically significant difference between the individual indicators due to the period in which the firms achieved these values was determined using the Friedman test. It determined whether the average values of the financial indicators remained constant over the period under review (the years 2018 and 2019 are considered pre-COVID-19 years, while 2020 and 2021 are years when the globe was already being impacted by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic) or whether the individual values of the indicators differed significantly. Findings & value added: Considering that there are statistically significant differences in the indicators of self-financing ratio, current indebtedness ratio, and equity leverage ratio in all monitored periods except for the years 2020 and 2021, where the average values of these debt indicators are the same, the results indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic also negatively impacted the indebtedness of Slovak enterprises. Although this research paper, focusing on the financial performance of the firms in the post-pandemic period, is pioneering in Slovakia, the biggest contribution of the study is the application of the latest information, which could help in more precise monitoring of corporate financial stability and debt policy during the current challenging period. The obtained results provide important universal guidelines for building financial strategies improving long-term financial resilience of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early papers found empirical support for a natural resource curse—the notion that exporting natural resources is detrimental to economic growth. Later papers, using reportedly improved econometric models and data, largely reversed these early findings by estimating that natural resources improve economic performance. However, this changing coefficient on natural resource dependence over time may not only be a function of model or data quality. Masked by this evolution in the economics literature is the possibility that the fundamental relationship between natural resources and economic performance has changed over the past several decades. This paper sheds a new perspective on the substantial resource curse literature by repeatedly estimating a single econometric model on data that evolve over time. The coefficient on natural resource dependence is estimated to steadily increases with the passage of time from a value that is negative and significant (for 1970, the basis for much of the early literature) to a positive and significant value a few decades later. Whatever natural resource estimated initially with data from 1970 seems to have evolved into a resource blessing over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supply chain instabilities and inflated material prices have had a disruptive impact on cost estimating of construction projects. While several research efforts used national macroeconomic indicators to forecast the prices of domestically produced construction materials, none of the existing studies investigated whether the lagged macroeconomic indicators of the main trading partners could enhance the predictability of the prices of cement, steel, and lumber in the US construction sector. This paper fills this knowledge gap. The authors adopted a multi-step methodology that included: (1) collecting data on the target variables and the candidate leading indicators; (2) identifying the structural breaks in the collected data sets; (3) conducting causality tests to identify short-term associations and cointegration tests to examine long-term relationships; (4) developing vector error correction (VEC) models to forecast the prices in the short and long terms; and (5) evaluating the performance of the proposed models against existing forecasting models in the literature. Results of the Granger test and Johansen test indicate that Canada's overall producer price index (PPI) is a consistent leading indicator of the prices of cement, and Mexico's overall PPI is a consistent leading indicator of the prices of steel. Findings indicate no statistical evidence to suggest that neither Canada's PPI nor Mexico's PPI can be leading indicators of lumber prices. Over an 18-month ahead of sample horizon, the presented VEC models of cement and steel prices outperformed existing models, particularly beyond the 1-year-ahead forecasts. Utilization of the proposed forecasting models can significantly enhance the accuracy of cost estimates and feasibility studies of construction projects. This provides proactive financial planning for construction contractors and project owners through improved short- and long-term forecasting of the prices of main construction materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The object of this study is the assessment of the level of enterprise bankruptcy risk. It is a critical component in assessing the financial condition of an enterprise, and also serves as an indicator that allows the management team to reduce potential risks and develop their own strategies to strengthen the financial condition of the enterprise. One of the most challenging aspects of bankruptcy forecasting is the complex financial situations of bankrupt companies. By accurately predicting the risk of bankruptcy, businesses can take preventive measures to mitigate financial difficulties and ensure long-term sustainability. Previous methods, such as Altman’s Z-score, are not accurate enough, as presented in the study. The paper investigates a modern approach to bankruptcy prediction based on a neural network with complex neural elements, namely neural arithmetic logic units (NALUs) and a custom phasing layer. This layer can process complex raw numerical values, such as financial indicators relevant to the analysis of a company’s bankruptcy. Compared to Altman’s Z-score, the developed method demonstrates a better F1 score in bankruptcy classification (48 %). On the raw data, the neural network demonstrates an improvement in the F1 score by about 40 % compared to the classical multilayer perceptron (MLP) with linear layers and nonlinear activation functions. A modern replacement for ReLU called Mish was used, which achieves better generalization. It was also assumed that the addition of new neural elements, which provide the neural network with arithmetic capabilities, contributes to the performance of processing non-normalized input data. This work highlights the importance of using advanced neural network architectures to improve the accuracy and reliability of forecasting in financial risk assessment. Using the parameters presented in the study, managers of enterprises will be able to more accurately assess the risk of bankruptcy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper describes the results of implementing modified designs of the working tools of a plug rolling mill. The plug design is modified to improve the rolling of the pipe wall thickness. The design of the bottom guide tool (the inlet trough of the mill) is improved to eliminate metal ruptures at the rear ends of thin-walled pipes, as well as to reduce downtime and rejection as unfinished products. The economic indicators of the proposed designs implemented in the longitudinal rolling process are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City deals – place-based agreements between central and local state actors – are an increasingly common intervention for supporting economic performance in urban areas. This paper presents empirical evidence on the effectiveness of city deals by estimating the impact of the UK's City Deals scheme on rates of economic growth, productivity and job creation across England between 2010 and 2019. Because the City Deals were introduced in two waves, we estimate its effects using a differences-in-differences (DiD) with multiple time periods (MTPs) approach. Our DiD estimates indicate that, overall, the City Deals were associated with improvements in local economic performance, but that the first wave of city deals resulted in gains of around 2.5% to 3% that were not observed in the second wave. These results suggest that city deals are most effective when appropriate institutional structures are in place and highlight the value of MTP approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the individual's socioeconomic and demographic determinants of financial inclusion and its barriers among for South Asian countries in the lens of existing financial inclusion policy, using World Bank Global Findex database for the period 2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021. We use the Probit regression model to explore the main objective of this study. In addition, we also analyze the trend, pattern, and barriers of financial inclusion for the period 2011- 2021 to identify differences among south Asian countries. Our results reveal that Sri Lanka is the best performer in the inclusivity of financial products as well as removing barriers to financial inclusion in all four periods. While Pakistan and Afghanistan are the least financially included countries, also they failed to remove barriers to financial inclusion. Moreover, our empirical results suggest that individuals who are male, older, wealthier, and more educated are more likely to access financial services, with income and education exerting a higher influence. Further, age shows a non-linear (inverted U-shaped) relationship with financial inclusion indicators. Additionally, we found that individuals having a formal account are the most important indicators of financial inclusion. And the reasons for financial exclusion (i.e., not having an account) are mainly voluntary among South Asian individuals. In fact, it is found that policies like Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana for India and National Financial Inclusion Strategy across all South Asian countries play a significant role in accelerating financial inclusion and helping in removing its barriers with different magnitudes. Therefore, our finding stresses the importance of heterogeneous integrated policy measures for the targeted groups of the population, particularly the most vulnerable group among South Asian countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In continuation of the previous part, this paper comprehensively focuses on energy, exergy, exergo-economic, and environmental (4E) analyses of two prioritized clean hydrogen (H 2) supply chains pathways. The first scenario relies on domestic demand , involves blue H 2 production and storage using steam methane reforming coupled with carbon capture and storage through H 2 conversion to hydrogen carriers in liquid form (ammonia and methanol) aligned with the existing infrastructure. The second scenario involves green H 2 production from photovoltaic panels as the power source follows by storing H 2 in liquid form which is more suitable to export. The findings indicate that the blue H 2 system outperforms the green H 2 system in terms of energy and exergy, boasting 41.38% and 22.15% compared to 12.16% and 12.75%, respectively. However, when examining economic parameters, the blue H 2 system shows a total cost rate of 1976 US$/h, a net profit of $747.2 million (mn) at the end of its lifetime, and a payback period of approximately nine years. Conversely, the green H 2 system demonstrates economic indicators of a 125.2 $/h as a total cost rate, $1.26 billion (bn) net profit, and an 8.17 year payback period. Moreover, the production cost rates for blue and green H 2 are 1.32 $/kg and 2.55 $/kg, respectively; while the CO 2 emissions rate in the blue H 2 system is 10.71 kg/s. The green H 2 system prevents 19.84 kg/s of CO 2 emissions resulted a significant environmental cost reduction of 2.28 $/kg H 2. This analysis facilitates a thorough comparison of these two clean H 2 production and storage systems, offering insights for policymakers across performance, economic, and environmental dimensions. • A comprehensive 4E analysis was applied for the selected H 2 value chain scenarios. • Blue H 2 scenario is superior economically while environmentally the green one takes precedence. • Carbon credit makes the green H 2 scenario emerges frontrunner utilizing PV solar technology. • Methanol was recognized as the most cost-effective H 2 carrier for storage in Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the influence of coagulant type in coagulation, flocculation and sedimentation processes and membrane pore size on the performance and economic aspects of water reclamation from UASB reactor effluent. The methodology involved laboratory-scale experiments using two different coagulant types (a modified tannin coagulant, TANm, and a polyaluminum chloride, PACl) and membrane filtration tests with microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF). Compared to PACl, TANm had a smaller effect on the pH, consumed less alkalinity, and generated less sludge. However, PACl was more efficient in removing turbidity (89–97%), organic matter (70–72%), and phosphorus within the dosage range of 25 to 100 mg.L−1. Both membranes achieved high removal rates for turbidity and organic matter. Despite the higher flux decay, the MF system could have higher operating flux and lower fouling resistance. The operating costs were higher for the C/F systems, which was attributed to the cost of coagulants and sludge disposal. The system with MF membranes had a lower total cost, and the estimated payback period for the investment was between 0.73 to 0.24 years, based on the values charged for reuse water. This information can be used to optimize the design and operation of UASB-based water reclamation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture plays a vital role in driving economic output and employment in SubSaharan African (SSA) countries. Despite some progress, agricultural productivity in SSA still lags behind other regions. Limited access to finance remains a significant impediment to improving agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper investigates the effect of financial proximity on agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan African countries. The study primarily employs the system GMM estimator, chosen to address the endogeneity issue typical in macro panel data. This method is also wellsuited to our study because it accommodates a high number of cross-sections relative to the number of periods within each cross-section. Additionally, the IV-2SLS method is employed to check the robustness of the findings. The study uses an unbalanced panel for the 36 African countries with data for the period 2004-2019. Our findings show that increasing the financial proximity favors agricultural productivity in SSA countries. Specifically, the number of commercial bank branches (CBB) and the number of automated teller machines (ATM) per 100 000 adults, as indicators of financial proximity, have positive and significant effects on agricultural value added per worker in SSA. Additionally, our findings show that rainfall, arable land, and institutional quality are robust determinants of agricultural productivity. The positive effects of the number of CBB and the number of ATM are even more pronounced on agricultural productivity when coupled with strong institutional quality. Our findings suggest that improving financial services' accessibility in rural areas, coupled with enhanced institutional quality, regular rainfall, ample arable land, and increased access to water and land, are pivotal steps for achieving sustainable enhancements in labor productivity. This, in turn, leads to increased returns through value-added growth and expanded employment in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses some comparative analysis between the pattern of economic performances in Asia and Western Europe during 1950s-2020s through political economies perspective. The Asian and Western European economic performances are investigated through some stylized facts in the sense of economic factors. Three analyses are used to explain the general pattern of these regions. First, this study examines the pattern of GDP growth per capita during the 1950s-2020s, focusing on several countries in this region. Second, the analysis captures the pattern of linkages of economic variables in this region related to the principle of Circular and Cumulative causation (CCC) and contradiction. Third, the analysis employs a historical perspective underpinned by the results in the second analysis. This third analysis is crucial to appreciating Asia's global economic performance and also the process of Western deterioration phenomenon through long wave, including the occurrence recession and financial crises. The institutions of globalization and neoliberalism that put the power of capital promoted a financial crisis several times during the decades of 1980s-2020. The financial crisis is depicted by contradictions in the structural linkages among economic factors in Western Europe over the period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the economy in Guangdong province has ranked first in the country, maintaining a good growth momentum. The prediction of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) for Guangdong province is an important issue. Through predicting the GDP, it is possible to analyze whether the economy in Guangdong province can maintain high-quality growth. Hence, to accurately forecast the economy in Guangdong, this paper proposed an Elman neural network combining with wavelet function. The wavelet function not only stimulates the forecast ability of Elman neural network, but also improves the convergence speed of Elman neural network. Experimental results indicate that our model has good forecast ability of regional economy, and the forecast accuracy reach 0.971. In terms of forecast precision and errors, our model defeats the competitors. Moreover, our model gains advanced forecast results to both individual economic indicator and multiple economic indicators. This means that our model is independently of specific scenarios in regional economic forecast. We also find that the investment in education has a major positive impact on regional economic development in Guangdong province, and the both surges positive correlation. Experimental results also show that our model does not exhibit exponential training time with the augmenting of data volume. Consequently, we propose that our model is suitable for the prediction of large-scale datasets. Additionally, we demonstrate that using wavelet function gains more profits than using complex network architectures in forecast accuracy and training cost. Moreover, using wavelet function can simplify the designs of complexity network architectures, reducing the training parameter of neural networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a massive cascading effect on the entire tourism and hospitality sector, acting as a demand shock, affecting not only customary travellers but also wiping out any transient demand. The upside of these difficult circumstances is that they can be used to test the sector’s resilience. In this context, this paper analyses the deleveraging risk that industry players in India face by employing a qualitative response model, ‘Logit’. The study concludes that the deleveraging risk that sector players face depends upon the amount of debt and leverage ratios, both during the pre-and post-pandemic period. However, the influence of other financial indicators on deleveraging has been different in terms of its intensity and bi-directional impact. Moreover, during COVID-19 deleveraging tendencies were noticed only in 204 firms, compared to 242 firms before COVID-19, discrediting the forced deleveraging as predicted in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) has been a crucial trade and development initiative, offering preferential access to qualified Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries to the United States market since its enactment in 2000. This paper presents a comprehensive review of scholarly articles and policy reports that analyze the impact of AGOA on the economic performance of SSA countries. Employing various econometric methods and data analysis techniques, researchers have investigated the effects of AGOA on trade flows, foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, employment, economic growth, and poverty levels. The findings reveal that AGOA has positively affected the region's trade, particularly in apparel, textiles, and agriculture. However, its influence on promoting export diversification and attracting FDI is nuanced, with substantial heterogeneity among the beneficiary countries and industries within each country. While some SSA countries have experienced substantial export growth and FDI inflows, others have not fully leveraged the benefits of AGOA due to absorptive capacity constraints and governance challenges. AGOA's effectiveness in promoting broad-based employment, GDP growth, and poverty reduction remains an active area of inquiry, necessitating further research to understand the policy's sustained impact and inform future trade policy designs for SSA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 2010 and 2018, Australia saw four sitting prime ministers deposed by their own parties, giving the country the title "the coup capital of the democratic world". In this paper, we use Australian Election Study surveys and commercial opinion poll data to analyse what voters thought of these changes and whether they lifted the electoral fortunes of their respective parties. The results suggest that voters' views of the changes depended on the popularity of the leader in question, but that a desire to see better economic performance reinforced support for a change in prime minister. There is little evidence that opinion polls played a role in any of the changes, at least for voters. There is also no evidence that the changes improved the subsequent vote for each of the parties that changed a prime minister; indeed, in three of the four cases the party vote declined significantly following the change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the factors contributing to information sensitivity in debt markets, focusing on the potential influences of uncertainty, economic performance, and journalist-dependent language. Building upon the foundational work of Dang et al. (Ignorance, debt and financial crises. Yale University Unpublished Working Paper, 2018), we analyze the mechanisms underlying the transition from information-insensitive to information-sensitive states—a shift with implications for potential financial crises. Leveraging machine learning techniques and daily data on variables such as default probability, information acquisition, and newspaper articles, we discern specific narrative triggers embedded within the news. Our analysis underscores the pivotal role of economic states and journalist language in inducing information sensitivity—a phenomenon intricately tied to different psychological thinking processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the relationship between sustainability disclosure practices and earnings management in the Jordanian context. Based on an analysis of 66 non-financial firms listed on ASE, spanning the period of 2017–2020. The findings revealed that companies' compliance with the disclosure of sustainability improves their ethical behavior, which limits earnings management practices and increases the reliability of their financial statements. The findings have implications for regulators, corporate executives, practitioners, policymakers, top management, and business partners. More corporate sustainability practices present more trustworthy information and more sustainable performance of the economic. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to examine the relationship between the extent of sustainability disclosure and earnings management in Jordanian firms. Moreover, two models were used for earnings management, which adds value to the existing literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noncommunicable diseases and mental health conditions (referred to collectively as NMHs) are the greatest cause of preventable death, illness, and disability in South America and negatively affect countries' economic performance through their detrimental impacts on labor supply and capital investments. Sound, evidence-based policy-making requires a deep understanding of the macroeconomic costs of NMHs and of their distribution across countries and diseases. The paper estimates and projects the macroeconomic burden of NMHs over the period 2020–2050 in 10 South American countries. We estimate the impact of NMHs on gross domestic product (GDP) through a human capital-augmented production function approach, accounting for mortality and morbidity effects of NMHs on labor supply, for the impact of treatment costs on physical capital accumulation, and for variations in human capital by age. Our central estimates suggest that the overall burden of NMHs in these countries amounts to $7.3 trillion (2022 international $, 3% discount rate, 95% confidence interval: $6.8–$7.8 trillion). Overall, the macroeconomic burden of NMHs is around 4% of total GDP over 2020–2050, with little variation across countries (from 3.2% in Peru to 4.5% in Brazil). In other words, without NMHs, annual GDP over 2020–2050 would be about 4% larger. In most countries, the largest macroeconomic burden is associated with cancers. Results from the paper point to a significant macroeconomic burden of NMHs in South America and provide a strong justification for investment in NMH prevention, early detection, treatment, and formal and informal care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the international situation is severe and complex, and the structural issues within the Chinese economy are prominent. Consequently, the financial risks faced by Chinese listed companies continue to escalate. Hence, it is of great practical significance to furnish effective early warnings for financial crises in listed companies. In this paper, we first employ web crawler technology and natural language processing technology to assess four text-linguistic features in the Management Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) section of the annual financial reports of listed companies in China from 2011 to 2020. These features are text tone, forward-looking, readability and similarity. Subsequently, we combine these features with traditional financial indicators and explore thirteen mainstream machine learning models to comparatively analyze their effectiveness in predicting financial crises in listed companies. The empirical findings of this research reveal that MD&A text readability and similarity indicators contribute valuable incremental information to prediction models, whereas text tone and forward-looking indicators exhibit the opposite effect. The latter two indicators can be manipulated more effortlessly by management, as this study's empirical findings indicate no evidence of their contributions in incremental informational value. In fact, the forward-looking indicator even introduces additional noise to the prediction. Finally, by comparing the early warning effects of thirteen machine learning models, it is found that RF, Bagging, CatBoost, GBDT, XGBoost and LightGBM models maintain stable and accurate sample recognition ability. In general, this paper constructs a more effective financial crisis early warning model by exploring the MD&A text-linguistic feature indicators, thereby offering a fresh research perspective for further investigations in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of the economy and the introduction of environmental policies, increasingly serious environmental problems are getting more and more attention. Studying how to motivate enterprises to actively fulfil their environmental responsibilities and establish the concept of green development is the key to achieving sustainable development. This paper selects a sample of large steel enterprises of the China Iron and Steel Industry Association from 2008 to 2017, and explores the effect of environmental responsibility of industrial enterprises on corporate economic performance and the transmission mechanism based on the perspective of the mediating effect of green reputation. The results show that corporate environmental responsibility (CER) has a significant positive effect on corporate performance. Green reputation has a significant mediating effect in the impact of corporate environmental responsibility on economic performance. In addition, the differences in the mediating effects of green reputation between corporate environmental responsibility and economic performance are explored in depth from the perspectives of regional heterogeneity and ownership heterogeneity. Finally, based on the findings, the paper suggests that corporate policy makers should balance environmental and economic benefits in their management, and promote the establishment of management systems and production methods that use environmental protection as a value leader and growth driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oil has played a determinant role in the economic development of Sudan and South Sudan before and after their separation. The introduction of oil into the Sudanese economy in 1999 has been associated with many challenges, especially those related to export diversification, and institutional quality. Oil dependency increased with the growth of oil share in total exports. Therefore, the secession of South Sudan in 2011 represents a great shock to both economies. This event creates a situation in which the new country experienced a sudden influx of oil revenues. At the same time, the parent country witnessed a sudden loss of 70% of its proven oil reserves. This makes the case of Sudan unique and provides a very rare opportunity for macroeconomists to address the impacts of this shock on both economies. This paper uses the recent secondary data of both counties to analyze and compare the impact of oil revenues transfer on Sudan and South Sudan's economies in the post-secession period. The conclusion of this paper shows that oil loss has created incentives for better economic performance in Sudan. Reciprocally, South Sudan experiences a premature oil dependence that led to export concentration, institutional degradation, and macroeconomic instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]