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Hainan Province is a major domestic tourism destination in China, with rural tourism playing a key role in its development. This study analyzes the spatial distribution of 154 rural tourism sites across Hainan, examining regional balance, hotspots, and influencing factors such as transportation infrastructure, economic conditions, and A-level tourist attractions. Results show a clear spatial clustering of sites, with a strong concentration in the east and more dispersed patterns in the west. Economic growth and tourism sector development are identified as key factors influencing the "coconut-level" ratings. The study offers policy recommendations to promote sustainable rural tourism, including leveraging regional advantages, enhancing transportation connectivity, and improving tourism services and infrastructure. It also calls for investment in grassroots tourism projects and strengthening regional complementarity to foster balanced and equitable growth. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers and tourism planners seeking to integrate rural tourism into broader sustainable development strategies., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no potential conflict of interests., (© 2025. The Author(s).)

The process of regional economic development is marked by a sustained exposure to external disturbances. In today's unpredictable and tumultuous global environment, such disturbances have become increasingly common, underlining the need to advance a region's economic resilience and foster adaptive mechanisms to handle environmental flux. Comparing the typical provinces in eastern, central, western and northeastern regions during the COVID-19 epidemic period, it found that the economic resilience performance of Henan Province, which is a representative of the central region, has the following characteristics. Henan Province has the lowest total production resilience in the selected regions, but it is in the second position in terms of development potential resistance, while it is in the middle range in terms of resilience performance, and it has a weaker resistance performance in terms of the resilience indicator of the standard of living of the residents. Against this backdrop, this study undertakes an analysis and comparison of the economic resilience indicators of the 18 cities in Henan Province to suggest several refinements. It urges a promotion of the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries through increasing emphasis on the industrial sector, which will enable a transformation of the sectoral structuring. Further, digitization can help the upgrading of industries' intelligence and function as a lever to raise their competitiveness. Innovation in enterprises is also crucial in enhancing industrial competitiveness, by bolstering the technological innovation capabilities of enterprises and simultaneously boosting the wage-based incomes of residents, resulting in an overall improvement in their standard of living. Also, the study emphasizes the establishment of a digital talent platform to construct a sound regional talent ecology system., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Aotian Peng. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The water rights reform (WRR) is an important way to achieve market-oriented allocation of water resources. This article uses city-level panel data to analyze the economic effects of WRR in China. The results show that the WRR can increase overall value added by 4.40%. However, the average impact of WRR on agricultural value added is not significant, but it can significantly increase non-agricultural value added by 3.83%. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the WRR in cities with water rights conversion experience or in provincial capital or sub-provincial cities will have a smaller promotion effect on the overall economy than in other cities; in places with lower total water resources, the WRR will have a greater promoting effect on the overall economy. In areas where the total amount of water resources or sown area is small, the WRR can also promote the added value of agriculture. Cities participating in water rights conversion will achieve lower non-agricultural economic effects after the WRR, but in areas with higher population density, the non-agricultural economic effects the WRR can achieve will be greater. Further analysis shows that the WRR can promote the increase in the proportion of non-agricultural value added, and the increase in non-agricultural value added mainly comes from the industrial sector. Furthermore, the WRR does not threaten food security., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2025 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cancer is a significant public health issue all over the world. The diagnosis, treatment and follow-up of cancer patients are a huge health, economic and social burden for societies. The link between the state of health of a country and its economic performance has been proven by numerous studies. The aim of this study was to examine the age-standardized death rate of oral cancer in relation to the economic development of 13 European countries., Methods: Aggregated data were collected from the European Health for All (HFA-DB) database until 2019 and analysed using second degree polynomial functions and correlation analyses, followed by time-series analysis involving vector autoregressive models., Results: We found that in 10 of the 13 surveyed countries, the age-standardized death rate of oral cancer initially increased with GDP growth and then showed a downward trend above a certain level of economic development. Austria had a weak but significant positive effect with the second lag of GDP, Hungary had a significant negative effect with the first lag of GDP, and Italy had a significant negative effect with the second lag of GDP. In most cases, both the first and second lags of GDP changes were not statistically significant, indicating that short-term fluctuations in GDP do not directly influence changes in oral cancer mortality rates. Overall, while there are clear long-term associations between GDP and oral cancer mortality rates, the immediate causal effects of GDP changes on mortality rates are limited, suggesting that other factors and longer-term dynamics could play a more crucial role in this relationship., Conclusions: An increase in a country's economic development alone does not guarantee a decrease in the number of oral cancer patients. Therefore, in order to reduce the number of cases of oral cancer, strengthening education and prevention are essential., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Conflict of interest: No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Economic performance is an important indicator of the efficiency and quality of a company's production, which is closely related to the profitability of the company and is crucial for the development of the manufacturing industry.This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for assessing economic performance within the Chinese manufacturing industry. It achieves this by incorporating inputs, outputs, and energy consumption costs into the production function. By analyzing manufacturing data from 2000 to 2021, it quantifies the impact of various factors, including labor costs and technological advancements, on economic performance. The findings highlight technological progress as the primary driver of economic growth within the Chinese manufacturing sector. Notably, there exists a U-shaped relationship between technical progress and economic performance, suggesting nuanced dynamics at play. Contrary to expectations, the rate of change in per capita wages shows no significant positive impact on economic performance. However, technical progress in the eastern and central regions exhibits a capital bias and positively influences economic performance. Similarly, a U-shaped relationship characterizes the relationship between the western region and manufacturing industry performance. These results underscore the crucial role of technological innovation in sustaining economic performance amid challenges such as rising labor and environmental costs. Emphasizing the reliance on scientific and technological progress emerges as imperative for enhancing the industry's economic resilience and growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Wu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The coupled development of new-type urbanization (NTU) and rural revitalization (RR) represents a critical proposition put forth by China for forging a novel paradigm of urban-rural relationship. Initially, this study employs the entropy method to quantify NTU and RR. Subsequently, it carries out a comprehensive analysis concerning their coupled relationship with the relative development degree model (RDDM), coupled coordination degree model (CCDM), Dagum Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and Tobit model. The findings drawn from the study indicate from 2011 to 2022, NTU and RR in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) have exhibited a consistent upward trajectory, but lagging NTU disorders are widely distributed and numerous. The coupled coordination degree (CCD) of NTU and RR constantly improves, transitioning from moderate imbalance to primary coordination, exhibiting a spatial distribution of a "high in the east and low in the west". The relative disparity between the coupled development of NTU and RR demonstrates a slowly narrowing trend, whereas the absolute disparity indicates an expanding trend. Among the influencing factors, the development of the agricultural industry exerts the most significant positive impact on the coupled development, whereas the level of financial support for agriculture exerts a dampening effect, which is heterogeneous in nature., Competing Interests: Competing interests:The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Wang. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Under recent reforms to the National Health Service (NHS) in England, NHS organizations have been given new objectives to contribute to social and economic development. Health systems in other high-income countries are pursuing related approaches. This paper analyses national policy documents to understand the framing of the NHS's new policy priorities on social and economic development. We focus on the role of NHS integrated care systems-area-based planning bodies responsible for managing NHS resources and coordinating local services. National policy is vague about what social and economic development means in practice. There is limited guidance on which approaches local organizations should prioritize, and which organisations are responsible for implementation. Greater clarity from national policymakers and an overarching framework to guide local action is needed to reduce the risk of inaction, poorly targeted interventions, and missed opportunities for learning and evaluation. Policymakers and health system leaders also need to be realistic about the limits of local action given the importance of national public policy choices in shaping the social determinants of health. Coordinated policy action and investment across government is needed to address underlying social and economic conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Reducing pension insurance rates is an important measure for lowering the burden on enterprises. Does this measure encourage enterprises to invest in innovation? This study uses provincial panel data of China during 2000-2017 to analyze the reduction in the proportion of enterprise contributions to pension insurance in Zhejiang and Shandong provinces as a quasi-natural experiment. Specifically, it uses the synthetic control method to construct a counterfactual state of the treatment group, and analyzes the effect of fee reduction policy on enterprise innovation input. Taking R&D intensity as a proxy for innovation input, the study finds that the cost reduction policy has a significant promoting effect on innovation input. Although the reduction of pension insurance rate in Shandong is smaller than that in Zhejiang, the net effect of policy on R&D intensity is higher than that in Zhejiang. This study uses a placebo test, permutation test, and difference-in-differences method to carry out robustness checks, and confirms that the results are reliable, showing that the reduction of pension premium is conducive to the increase in enterprises' R&D intensity. However, owing to different economic development cycles in different regions, the net effect of pension premium reduction on enterprise innovation shows heterogeneity., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 He, Xu. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In the context of the transformation of urban-rural dual economic structure, one of the important ways to realize urban-rural integrated development is to carry out county industrial structure upgrading. Based on the policy of returning home to start business as a quasi-natural experiment, this paper empirically analyzes the relationship between returning home to start business and upgrading of county industrial structure. Selecting 1997 counties across the country from 2000 to 2021 as the research sample, a multi-temporal double-difference model is used to test the impact of the place-based policy on county industrial structure and the mechanism of the impact, and the result confirms that the implementation of the pilot policy of returning home entrepreneurship plays a positive and obvious role in promoting the level of industrial development of county-level areas. Subsequent investigations reveal diverse regional impacts, notably in Central and Western and the significantly older regions; thus, the influence of the prototype program of reintroducing home entrepreneurship on enhancing industrial development is more pronounced. Viewing from a mechanistic standpoint, the pilot initiative, which motivates entrepreneurs to go back and establish new businesses, aids in enhancing industrial frameworks by boosting innovation and stimulating the market. The article offers valuable direction and understanding to decision-makers aiming to enhance the combined growth of urban and rural sectors, as well as to elevate and reform the economy., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Tian, Juan. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

As a significant new mode of trade export in the digital economy era, cross-border e-commerce injects new momentum into trade cooperation among the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) member countries. This paper utilizes multi-dimensional panel data constructed from World Bank databases and UNCTAD databases from 2012 to 2021 to analyze the impact mechanism of RCEP member countries' digital economy development on China's cross-border e-commerce export through direct and indirect channels and conducts empirical tests on it. The research results show that, in terms of direct impact, the development of the digital economy in RCEP member countries has promoted China's cross-border e-commerce export, and its impact is heterogeneous. Regarding indirect impact, improving the quality of RCEP member countries' transportation infrastructure and institutional quality is a moderating factor promoting China's cross-border e-commerce export. This study provides important insights for deepening the development of the digital economy in RCEP countries and promoting China's cross-border e-commerce export., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The study builds a high-quality development index system encompassing dimensions of economic vitality, coordinated development, green development, and digital development. Utilizing the entropy weight TOPSIS method, the coupling coordination model, and the barrier factor model, this research examines the high-quality economic development level, internal coupling coordination, and obstacle factors in Chongqing's "one district and two groups" from 2017 to 2021. The findings are as follows: (1)The high-quality economic development level of the "one district and two groups" has been increasing year by year. This growth is driven by the joint progress across all dimensions, though regional disparities exist in the development levels of different dimensions. The order of high-quality economic development from highest to lowest is: the main city metropolitan area, southeast Chongqing, and northeast Chongqing. (2)The development level of internal coupling coordination for high-quality economic development within the "one district and two groups" has also been rising annually. However, the overall level of coupling coordination development remains low, although regional coupling coordinated development is gradually forming. There was no evidence of σ convergence in the coupling coordination of high-quality economic development within the "one district and two groups." The main city metropolitan area shows stability with an expansion trend, while the "two groups" exhibit divergence. (3)Overall, Chongqing's barrier index order was "economic vitality > coordinated development > green development > digital development." There were differences in obstacle factors between "one district" and "two groups"; the "two groups" align with the overall performance, while the main metropolitan area performs as "green development > economic vitality > coordinated development > digital development." The research conclusions provide a theoretical basis and decision-making reference for improving coordinated development within the region. (4)The main obstacles to high-quality economic development in Chongqing and the "one district and two groups" are centered on the dimensions of economic vitality and coordinated development, while also reflecting green development considerations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Che et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Improving system coordination is a pivotal strategy and a critical pathway for social governance. Chinese society is currently facing a significant challenge in aligning the allocation of health resources with economic development. Evaluating the level of coordinated development within the system can provide valuable insights to support the construction of a more coordinated China and foster high-quality development., Methods: Based on a systematically constructed indicator framework, our study selected data from five eastern provinces of China to establish a ten-year panel dataset covering the period from 2011 to 2020. The comprehensive evaluation index and the relative development degree were employed to comprehensively evaluate the development level of the system. The coupling coordination degree model was applied to analyze the coupling coordination relationship and spatiotemporal evolution trend of the two systems. Additionally, the fixed effects model was used to identify the driving factors behind the coordinated development of the two systems., Results: From 2011 to 2020, the comprehensive indices of health resource allocation and economic development in the five eastern provinces of China exhibited a consistent year-on-year increase, and the relative development degree experienced two critical values of 0.8 and 1.2, which changed from the lagging allocation of health resources to the lagging economic development. The system coordination index generally ranged between 0.35 and 0.90, with the coordination phase undergoing a transition from an antagonistic stage to a coordinated stage. The coordination type also gradually shifted from mild imbalance to good coordination. Furthermore, the levels of economic development, economic structure, technological investment, as well as the allocation of health human and material resources, all serve as critical drivers in enhancing the coordinated development of the system., Conclusion: The coordinated development of eastern China's provinces produces substantial spillover effects, and the realization of a Healthy China initiative must strategically harness their radiative and demonstrative effects. Achieving a superior level of coordination requires urgent efforts to rectify the existing deficiencies in the distribution of grassroots healthcare resources. Furthermore, cultivating innovative drivers of economic growth and enhancing the capacity for economic support are critical to ensuring high-quality and sustainable development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Wang, Feng, Chai, Chen, Yang, Li and Mi.)

The high-quality development of tourism is crucial to the sustainable development of regional economy. To evaluate high-quality tourism development, this paper has developed an index system with 6 second-level indicators and 24 third-level indicators and used methods of entropy-weight, AHP, and TOPSIS to empirically assess the high-quality tourism development of 9 cities in Fujian Province. According to the results, there are obvious regional differences in the development of high-quality tourism in Fujian Province. From 2016 to 2019, the overall development trend of cities in Fujian Province was consistent, showing a steady upward trend. Green development in tourism has the best performance, which was less affected by the COVID-19. Fuzhou and Xiamen contribute most to the tourism development of Fujian Province, while other cities are lagging behind for various reasons and the lack of innovation and shared development are two of them. Based on the results of the research, we put forward the following suggestions: Fujian should coordinate the planning of the province's green eco-tourism resources to maximize the use of resources. It should combine the advantages of the primary, secondary and tertiary industries and fully develop both advanced regions and under-developed regions. It should also explore areas of potential growth in the tourism sector, such as Sanming, Longyan, and Nanpin, by strengthening digital innovation and sharing resources with Xiamen, Fuzhou, Quanzhou and other highly-developed tourism regions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Ke et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study rigorously examines the complex interplay between financial technology (Fintech), financial inclusion, and their collective effects on economic growth in developing nations. Employing a robust panel regression methodology enhanced by Panel-Corrected Standard Errors (PCSE) and Feasible Generalized Least Squares (FGLS) techniques, this research analyzes an extensive dataset comprising 108 countries categorized into low, lower-middle, and upper-middle income levels across four pivotal years (2011, 2014, 2017, and 2021). Our analysis focuses on two key dimensions of Fintech-specifically, the adoption of digital payments and e-commerce via mobile technologies-and traditional financial access indicators, including the density of ATMs, bank branches, and active banking accounts. The findings demonstrate a predominantly positive effect of Fintech variables on economic growth, particularly through improved digital payment systems. Conversely, traditional financial inclusion metrics frequently show a negative correlation with growth trajectories. Notably, our research underscores a significant positive interaction between digital payment usage and ATM density, indicating a synergistic relationship that enhances the performance of traditional banking systems. In contrast, a substitutability effect arises, where increased dependence on mobile technologies diminishes the relevance of traditional financial infrastructure, potentially obstructing broader economic growth. These findings carry critical policy implications, advocating for a cohesive strategy that fosters both Fintech innovations and traditional financial sectors to maximize economic growth and inclusivity. A deliberate emphasis on synchronizing innovative financial solutions with the strengthening of conventional banking is essential for promoting sustainable economic development in these resource-constrained regions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Azmeh, Al-Raeei. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The rapid economic development in emerging economies, particularly in BRICS nations, is closely intertwined with their energy consumption and financial investment in energy sectors. However, the global shift towards sustainability has raised concerns about the continued reliance on fossil fuels and the environmental implications of such practices. Energy finance-particularly the balance between fossil fuel energy finance (FFEF) and renewable energy finance (RENF)-plays a critical role in shaping economic growth trajectories in these economies. At the same time, governance frameworks can either enhance or hinder the effectiveness of energy finance strategies. As the global push for sustainability intensifies, the need to balance these two energy sources becomes increasingly important. This study investigates the impact of energy finance on economic growth in BRICS nations and explores how governance moderates these relationships. Using data from the World Development Indicators (2000-2023) and employing econometric models, including Fully Modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS) and Dynamic Ordinary Least Squares (DOLS) for robustness, the findings reveal that both FFEF and RENF positively impact EGR. However, RENF also offers the added benefit of environmental sustainability, positioning it as a viable alternative for economic development. Good governance emerges as a critical factor that can mitigate the negative environmental effects of FFEF and further amplify the positive impact of RENF on EGR. The study highlights that BRICS nations have the option to shift from FFEF to RENF, as RENF not only promotes economic growth but also aligns with environmental goals. Strengthening governance frameworks will be essential in facilitating this transition and supporting sustainable economic growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Rahman et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Introduction: The co-development of public-private hospitals in China's healthcare system significantly influences the system's service utilisation, but the public-private hospital interaction is poorly understood. Bridging this knowledge gap is crucial for informed policy-making and promoting a more balanced healthcare system. This study measures China's public-private hospital co-development and the impact of provincial and regional economic development levels on public-private hospital co-development., Methods: We use service utilisation, a comprehensive measure of resource allocation, service capacity and service efficiency, to assess the co-development of China's public and private hospitals. Using the coupling coordination degree model, a novel approach borrowed from physics, we measured the degree of interaction between the public and private pillars of China's hospital system. Second, we measured the relationship between the degree of private-public hospital interaction and the level of provincial-regional economic development, including provincial direct and spillover effects. Data were collected on 2011-2021 service utilisation across 31 Chinese provinces. Fixed-effect models and the spatial Durbin model estimated the direct and spillover effects between the coupling coordination degree and the level of provincial economic development., Results: We found that national, regional and provincial service utilisation in private hospitals expanded, while service utilisation remained constant in public hospitals. China's private-public hospital co-development improved from the 'barely co-developed' (0.696 in 2011) to the 'partially co-developed' level (0.752 in 2021) in the public-private transitional co-development stage. We identified significant regional heterogeneity, with the eastern region co-development slightly better than the central region and both substantially better than the western region. There was also significant provincial heterogeneity. Increases in regional and provincial economic development promoted the service utilisation of private hospitals, improving the balanced co-development of public-private hospitals in the home and adjacent provinces (p<0.05)., Conclusions: To improve the co-development of public-private hospitals and avoid regional imbalances, regional and provincial hospital policies and regulations should be coordinated and equitable; private hospitals should cooperate with public hospitals through their professional management teams and medical equipment sharing to equalise medical resource allocations; and regional economic disparities should be addressed., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

The rapid technological and economic growth in CIVETS countries poses challenges to environmental sustainability. This study explores the intricate relationships between Information and Communication Technology (ICT), natural resource usage, and green innovation in these economies. Employing advanced statistical models uncovers long-term and short-term patterns, providing valuable insights for policymakers, stakeholders, and scholars. Key findings reveal that ICT diffusion can potentially reduce carbon emissions, while natural resource rent is linked to increased ecological footprints. Conversely, green technological innovation is promising in alleviating environmental degradation. The study underscores the importance of comprehensive policies integrating ICT diffusion, sustainable resource management, and green innovation. To achieve environmental sustainability, the study recommends responsible natural resource extraction, fiscal incentives for green innovation, digital tools for environmental monitoring, and international collaboration. Public awareness and sustainable urbanization practices guided by ICT are also crucial. These insights help policymakers balance economic development with ecological preservation in the CIVETS nations., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Qamruzzaman, Kor. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Studies on the potential disruptions that future land use changes may have on trade-offs and synergies among ecosystem services (ESs) in the ecologically fragile region of hilly red soil region (HRSR) are still lacking. We employed multi-source observational data to project the land use patterns expected for the year 2035 in Jiangxi Province - a typical HRSR in China - across three specific scenarios: nature development (ND), economic development (ED), and ecological protection (EP). Through the integration of the InVEST model, correlation analysis, and geographically weighted regression methods, we evaluated habitat quality, soil conservation, water yield, and soil conservation, as well as the associated trade-offs/synergies among ESs. The results showed that the built-up land will continue to increase and occupy a large amount of cropland and woodland, resulting in a 0.79-1.96% reduction for the above four ESs under ND scenario. Under the ED scenario, the cropland and built-up land will increase by 2.95% and 12.00%, respectively, and most of them will convert from woodland, which will reduce ESs by 1.07-1.99%. Under the EP scenario, the expansion rate of built-up land will slow down and woodland will increase by 1.55%, leading to a 0.02-1.58% increase in ESs relative to the ED and ND scenarios. In addition, there were clear trade-offs observed in the ES pairs related to the water yield, while other ES pairs showed synergies. The proportions of counties that will experience changes in trade-off intensity, synergy intensity and the direction of trade-offs/synergies are expected to be 1-31%, 1-47% and 1-37%, respectively, from 2010 to 2035 under different scenarios. The study can provide valuable insights for ecological managers in HRSR in developing land use management strategies that optimize the mutual benefits of various ESs according to local conditions., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Implementing policy combinations that neither negatively impact economic performance nor create the least amount of harm is the most crucial factor to consider in policy practices that promote environmental quality. In this regard, green growth, which harmonises both environmental and economic performance, gains importance. Based on this, this study analyses the effects of foreign direct investments, financial development, and financial globalisation on green growth for BRICS countries for the period 1990-2021. For this purpose, the effects of these factors on green growth are investigated using novel wavelet quantile regression and wavelet quantile correlation techniques. The findings show that while foreign direct investment inflow harms green growth in countries other than South Africa, there is a positive effect for South Africa. On the other hand, financial development and financial globalisation have adverse effects on green growth only in South Africa but have an increasing effect on green growth in other countries., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

As an essential market player, corporations play a crucial role in achieving green and sustainable economic development, while information technology is vital in influencing corporate environmental decision-making. Therefore, using a sample of A-share listed companies in China from 2009 to 2021, we developed a measurement for IT change through computer-aided text analysis to investigate the impacts of IT change on corporate environmental violations. The key findings are as follows: (1) a 1% increase in external or internal IT change can reduce corporate environmental violations by approximately 0.139 and 0.204. (2) IT change influences corporate environmental violations through monitoring and knowledge acquisition mechanisms. (3) IT change significantly affects environmental violations in firms that are large in size, lack government supervision, and adopt cost leadership strategies. (4) IT change complements green credit policies and positively affects firms in non-green credit-restricted industries. To sum up, this paper contributes to understanding the factors that influence corporate environmental decisions and offers insights into promoting the construction of IT change., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study is to unravel the linear impacts of economic growth, technological innovation, natural resource rents and trade openness on carbon emissions in Malaysia during 1980-2021. It also unveils the moderating role of technological innovation on the impacts of economic growth, natural resource rents and trade openness on carbon emissions. It further analyses the nonlinear relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions. It estimates the parameters with the Autoregressive Distributed Lag model technique. The results of the linear model reveal that economic growth, natural resource rents and trade openness contributes to carbon emissions while technological innovation mitigates carbon emissions. The disaggregated analysis of natural resource rents indicates that oil rents, natural gas rents and coal rents intensify carbon emissions while mineral rents and forest rents do not contribute to carbon emissions. The disaggregated analysis of trade openness shows that exports worsen carbon emissions while imports have tenuous effect. The disaggregated analysis of technological innovation indicates that innovation by non-residents mitigate carbon emissions while innovation by residents do not alleviate carbon emissions. Moreover, evidence from the interaction model reveals that technological innovation can favourably mitigate the adverse impacts of economic growth and trade openness on carbon emissions albeit it cannot alleviate the impact of natural resource rents on carbon emissions. Besides, the nonlinear model indicates a U-shaped relationship between technological innovation and carbon emissions. Unlike previous studies that typically focused on the direct impacts of these variables, this study unravels the impacts of the disaggregated components as well as provides insights into the moderating and nonlinear effects of technological innovation on carbon emissions. The implication of this study is that efforts to achieve a carbon-neutral economy should consider the direct and indirect impacts of economic growth, technological innovation, natural resource rents and trade openness. It is recommended for Malaysia to encourage technological innovation in her quest to abate the adverse environmental impacts of economic activities., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest There is no conflict of interest between the authors., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The world is facing crucial challenges such as environmental degradation, social inequality, and slow economic growth due to the current transformative era. These challenges constitute a significant barrier to unlocking the world's full potential. In response, green growth has emerged as a focal point in global discourse due to the pivotal shift of legislators and researchers from conventional economic growth to sustainable and green growth. This research will examine the influence of financial technology and business-centric-tourism on green growth for a full panel of 148 worldwide economies and four different income-levels during the period spanning 2004-2021. The financial technology index comprises twenty-one enabling and integrated variables that capture the intersection between finance and technology. The two-step system GMM (Generalized Method of Moment) corroborated by the 2SLS (Two-Stage Least Square) method indicates that financial technology and business-centric-tourism endorse green growth for the world overall, while mixed results were observed at different income-levels. Moreover, energy transition, globalization, and business environment positively influence green growth, while it is negatively impacted by urban transition and socio-economic conditions. This study aligns its outcomes with the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) of 2030 and adds value to business literature on green growth by offering significant policy implications for achieving balanced and inclusive growth., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors reported no potential conflict of interest for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Existing literature continues to present divergent perspectives regarding how e-commerce development influences CO 2 emissions. The China's county-level e-commerce pilot program provides new evidence for researches in this subject. This study investigates the effects of China's rural e-commerce development on CO 2 emissions using panel data in 2142 counties from 2010 to 2021, as well as a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DiD) model based on the "Rural E-commerce Demonstration Counties " (REDC) pilot program. Considering the REDC preference towards poor areas, this paper adds the selection variable of pilot program into the model. The main purpose of the REDC is to foster e-commerce growth, but this study finds that the pilot program inadvertently significantly reduces county-level CO 2 emissions while promoting GDP growth in the county. The pilot program of e-commerce mainly achieves carbon reduction through two channels: encouraging the servitization of county industrial structures and the digital transformation of traditional industries. Emissions reductions have a greater impact on economically developed places, provinces with a stronger basis in e-commerce, and counties with better mobility options. This study accurately assesses the impact of e-commerce expansion on reducing emissions, providing new idea for digital carbon emissions reduction and offers policy implications for sustainable economic development in many developing countries (regions)., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Integrating green supply chain strategies and circular economy (CE) practices holds substantial potential for promoting environmental sustainability and reducing CO2 emissions. This study investigates the synergy between green supply chain practices, circular economy, and economic growth (RGDP) impacts on carbon emissions in 13 selected European Union (EU) countries, using a comprehensive panel dataset from 2000 to 2022. We employ both linear and nonlinear panel ARDL models, along with causality tests, to examine how CO2 emissions respond to changes in green supply chain management (GSCM), real GDP (RGDP), and various recycling practices, including bio-waste, municipal waste, and packaging waste. Our findings reveal that GSCM practices significantly reduce carbon emissions in the long run, while economic growth (RGDP) and municipal waste generation correlate positively with increased CO2 emissions. Interestingly, the nonlinear ARDL model highlights that only recycling packaging waste (RWP) exhibits a positive long-run effect on reducing emissions. Additionally, the method of moments quantile regression (MMQR) analysis indicates that the impact of GSCM is more pronounced at higher quantiles of CO2 emissions, whereas the effect of RGDP on emissions remains inconsistent. These results underscore the crucial need to adopt and enhance green supply chain practices within a circular economy framework to achieve substantial carbon emission reductions, holding significant implications for carbon emissions policies in the selected EU countries., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This paper conducted an in-depth study to elucidate the impact of corporate intelligence transformation and regional financial technology on green economic growth, particularly the role of credit resource allocation. We developed a multi-sector general equilibrium model, integrating the heterogeneity of intelligent transformation in production sectors and accounting for the influence of Fintech on financial institutions. Within this model framework, panel data from 2011 to 2021 at the provincial, municipal, and micro-enterprise levels in China were used to validate the theoretical model through a mixed regression approach. The findings indicate that as intelligent transformation firms receive more credit resources, their potential for green economic growth increases, contributing to reduced regional carbon emissions. Additionally, the excess productivity of intelligent transformation firms has a significant positive impact on regional carbon reduction efforts. Moreover, the advancement of Fintech reduces financial institutional costs, further optimizing credit allocation and lowering overall market interest rates, thereby promoting green development within the region. However, advancements in Fintech may also redirect more credit resources toward low-risk general enterprises, resulting in a credit crowding-out effect for intelligent transformation firms. These findings indicate that, while promoting intelligent transformation, policy measures should also balance the resource allocation effects of Fintech across different types of enterprises., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study firstly examines the quality of marine eco-environment in Africa using Tapio decoupling model, and analyzes the sustainability level of the development of "population agglomeration - marine environment - economic growth". Secondly, a series of econometric tools, such as ARDL, FMOLS, AMG model and DH panel causality test, are used to investigate the long- and short-term impacts of economic growth, population agglomeration, marine capture and energy consumption on the African marine eco-environment, and to analyze the differences between the sub-regions in Africa. The results indicate that: Adebayo and Kirikkaleli (2021) (Adebayo and Kirikkaleli, 2021) the decoupling state of "population-environment" has shifted from expansive negative decoupling to more optimized strong decoupling, and "economy-environment" has gradually changed from strong negative decoupling and expansive negative decoupling to strong decoupling. Ali et al. (2017) (Ali et al., 2017) There existed a bi-directional causal relationship between the degree of marine environment degradation and economic growth, population agglomeration, marine capture and energy consumption. Al-Mulali and Sab (2012) (Al-Mulali and Sab, 2012) In the short term, the economic EKC hypothesis does not hold in North and West Africa, while Central, East and Southern Africa are consistent with the EKC hypothesis. In the long term, the EKC hypothesis is valid in Central, East and Southern Africa, while is not valid in North and West Africa. Overall, reducing population agglomeration levels, marine fishing and energy consumption might mitigate marine environmental degradation in Africa., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Wei GUO reports was provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China. Mo BI reports was provided by China Scholarship Council. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In the study, the relationship between ecological footprint, economic freedom, renewable energy consumption, and economic growth is analysed under the scope of environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis. Here, fifteen countries with the highest economic freedom for the period 1996-2018 are selected to more clearly underline the impact of economic freedom on the environment and examined, i.e., Australia, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Sweden, and Switzerland. The long-term relationship between the variables is examined using the panel cointegration test. According to the test results, it has been observed that the variables in the EKC model act together in the long run. According to the long-term estimation results, it is seen that economic freedom decreases the ecological footprint, namely, environmental degradation, in Canada, while it increases in Estonia. Furthermore, it is concluded that renewable energy reduces the ecological footprint in Australia, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Singapore, and Switzerland. Nevertheless, it has been determined that the EKC hypothesis is valid for Canada, Denmark, and Singapore, but not for other countries., Competing Interests: Declarations: Research does not include human participants and/or animals. Informed consent is not included in the study. Consent to participate: The author has agreed with the content and has given explicit consent to submit. Consent for publication: The author has agreed with the content and has given explicit consent to submit. Competing interests: The author declares no competing interests., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

Industrialization plays a crucial role in socio-economic development as it holds significant potential for creating new jobs, tightening the income gap, and promoting the use of advanced technology. As global competition intensifies, emerging economies emulate industrialized economies in accelerating manufacturing activity to improve national welfare and join the new global order. However, policymakers' understanding of how competitiveness in the industrial sector helps developing countries accomplish their sustainable development goals must be deepened. This paper aims to analyze the connections among competitive industrial performance, renewable energy consumption, urbanization, and load capacity factor (LCF) in the BRICS economies for the period between 1990 and 2018. Robust evidence from the continuously updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and continuously updated bias-corrected (CUP-BC) models shows that greater industrial competitiveness enhances environmental quality. The findings also reveal that income growth ultimately evolves as an ecologically friendly factor, confirming the validity of the load capacity curve (LCC) hypothesis. Another outcome of the econometric analysis indicates that renewable energy consumption contributes to the LCF, whereas urbanization damages the environment. Therefore, BRICS policymakers should concentrate on maintaining their competitiveness, implementing resilient urban planning, and promoting the usage of renewable energy to safeguard the environment while simultaneously achieving rapid economic growth., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)

The Chinese government has established definitive goals to reach a "carbon peak" by 2030 and achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2060. Investigating the attainment of these emission reduction objectives while simultaneously fostering regional economic growth and enhancing living standards holds critical importance. This study examines the link between higher education and carbon intensity across China's thirty provincial-level administrative regions, employing fixed effects models on provincial panel data spanning 2001-2020. The findings, validated through robustness tests and a mediation effect model, elucidate the mechanisms by which higher education influences carbon intensity. Notably, the results reveal that enhancing higher education markedly lowers carbon intensity; specifically, a 1% increase in the logarithmic transformation of per capita investment in higher education in a province decreases its carbon intensity by 0.219%. Additionally, higher education's output similarly contributes to reductions in carbon intensity. The influence of higher education on reducing carbon intensity is particularly pronounced in the central and western regions of China. Moreover, higher education facilitates the reduction of carbon intensity through mechanisms such as promoting environmental consciousness, advancing industrial structure, and encouraging technological innovation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Yuan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Rapid economic growth in China has led to significant resource and environmental challenges, particularly in less economically developed regions. This study aims to identify effective strategies for achieving green, low-carbon development in these regions during the economic transition., Methods: We employed the Fuzzy-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) method to scrutinize the impact of economic, demographic, industrial, and technological factors on low-carbon development across a selection of Chinese provinces, including Qinghai, Hunan, Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Hainan, and Chongqing. This approach facilitates a nuanced exploration of the multifaceted determinants of low-carbon progress within the regional contexts of China., Results: The study identified three distinct paths to low-carbon development, each with unique prioritization characteristics. These paths are the traditional early low-carbon path, the semi-modernized mid-carbon path, and the post-modernized low-carbon path. Each path offers tailored strategies for less developed regions to enhance their environmental innovation capacity and global competitiveness., Conclusion: This research contributes a novel perspective for regional sustainable development in China by offering tailored low-carbon development strategies for less developed regions. The findings suggest that region-specific strategies, aligned with developmental stages and characteristics, are essential for ensuring balanced economic, social, and environmental development., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Li, Hu, Xu, Guo, Liu and Zhou.)

Entrepreneurship is widely recognized as a vital driver of economic growth, yet its relationship through different stages with broader, non-purely monetary dimensions still needs to be explored. This research seeks to fill this gap by investigating the association between human development and entrepreneurship, recognizing the crucial role of environmental conditions in shaping entrepreneurial activity. Our cross-country Bayesian analysis shows strong evidence that a nation's level of human development is associated with entrepreneurial activity in three stages: early entrepreneurship, intention for future engagement, and discontinuation of ventures. Our findings expand the intricate relationship between entrepreneurship and economic variables, highlighting the importance of environmental conditions in shaping entrepreneurial behavior. This article emphasizes that promoting robust entrepreneurial ecosystems requires considering integral dimensions such as human development. Policymakers and researchers should broaden their perspectives to encompass these holistic dimensions to create an environment conducive to entrepreneurial growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Rojas et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Taking the development of China's digital economy as a background, the article provides an in-depth analysis and summarises the influencing factors of labour force employment polarisation. The study employs provincial panel data from 2010 to 2020, applies fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis methods, and constructs a fixed-effects model in order to explore the drivers, paths and their effects of employment polarisation. The results of the study show that economic, social and educational environments together have a significant impact on employment polarisation through interactions and synergistic effects; it also identifies four main paths of labour force employment polarisation, which are numerical-social-environment-driven, numerical-educational-environment-driven, numerical-economic-environment-driven, and types driven by other factors; this study also finds that compared to the summed impact of single elements, these grouping pathways have a more significant impact on employment polarisation. These findings not only provide a key perspective for understanding how the digital economy shapes employment polarisation, but also provide an empirical basis and insights for policies based on the findings., Competing Interests: This research was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 19XMZ095)., (Copyright: © 2024 Zhou et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Financial development facilitates farmers' access to credit resources, enabling the adoption of innovative technologies for energy management. On the other hand, long-term planning for agricultural businesses is expected to reduce various types of risks, including financial risk, thus promoting production. Therefore, the aim of this study is to empirically investigate the relationship between development and financial risk with energy consumption in the agricultural sector in Iran and selected developing countries. For this purpose, financial development indicators such as the ratio of deposits and bank facilities to agricultural value-added, as well as economic, financial, and political risk indicators, have been used for two groups of oil-exporting and non-oil-exporting developing countries during the years 2010 to 2020. In order to analyze the data, the Smooth Transition Regression model was used, which allows for examining non-linear relationships between variables. The findings suggest significant differences in the average per capita agricultural energy consumption between the studied oil-exporting and non-oil-exporting countries. Other research results indicate the superiority of non-linear specification relationships between variables and their threshold behavior. Financial development has an inverse effect on per capita energy consumption, and an increase in various types of risk (financial, economic, and political) is associated with an increase in per capita energy consumption in the agricultural sector. The magnitude of the impact of variables in non-oil-exporting countries is generally estimated to be higher than in oil-exporting countries.

A common conundrum discussed in economic research revolves around the fact that nations endowed with plentiful natural resources often exhibit a lower gross domestic product (GDP). This conundrum is commonly called the "resource curse", where most empirical studies about the effects primarily focused on developed economies. At the same time, limited data is available regarding a burgeoning oil-exporting nation like the Republic of Yemen. This research endeavor aims to investigate the relationship between oil price Changes and Yemen's economic growth. Utilizing annual data spanning from 1990 to 2019, the study employs the auto-regressive distributed lag (ARDL) model to establish the long-term connection between oil price volatility and economic growth over both short and long timeframes. This study's outcomes indicate that oil price Changes have a significant positive relationship with Yemen's economic growth in both the long and short run. Oil rents show a significant negative relationship with economic growth in both the long and short run. The results of GLM, RLS, and GMM robustness checks are consistent with our model results. Based on these findings, we suggest that Yemen should diversify its economy by investing in agriculture and tourism, and focus on human capital, education, and research and development. These steps could reduce the economy's dependence on oil and enhance sustainable economic growth. These empirical insights and suggestions are particularly useful for policymakers as they help build sound external and economic policies to sustain long-term economic growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Amer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Since the Chinese government launched the Belt and Road Initiative, state-owned enterprises and private conglomerates have increased overseas investment. The massive outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) profoundly affects China's regional development to varying degrees. Existing studies have mainly investigated the effect of foreign direct investment inflow on domestic investment (DI), but only a few studies have examined the impact of OFDI on DI. Though most researchers have indicated that OFDI activities can promote (or inhibit) DI in a particular country, they have overlooked how OFDI's geographical distribution and motivation across the Chinese macro-regions have influenced DI. To fill these gaps, this paper examines the impact of such OFDI on DI in China and its macro-regions, using a province-level dataset from 2005 to 2021. It employs panel regression and rigorously tests the data using the generalised method of moments to address endogeneity issues. We also investigate the investment motivations of the top 100 Chinese multinationals with significant FDI outflows from 2015 to 2018. We find that OFDI has positively and markedly influenced DI in eastern coastal and central inland regions but not in western China. Though OFDI has positively affected DI in China, it may not hold in a regional context. Such OFDI seeks to enhance the efficiency of existing investment, expand domestic markets, and look for strategic assets. Our findings indicate that central and provincial governments could develop OFDI policies to cater to significant regional variations. Local governments should also consider the various OFDI motivations of Chinese multinationals and provide adequate support for developing and implementing local investment policies that encourage domestic firms to invest abroad., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wong et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: Digitalization and population aging have had a profound impact on the development of undertakings for the aged, which brings challenges as well as opportunities for elder care system. This study examines the impact of the digital economy on the high-quality development (HQD) of undertakings for the aged in China., Methods: Based on the panel data of 31 provinces in mainland China from 2013 to 2021, this study explores the influence mechanism of the HQD of undertakings for the aged driven by the digital economy and its spatial spillover effects. The benchmark regression model is used to investigate the impact of the development level of the digital economy on the HQD of undertakings for the aged. The mediation effect model is used to explore the indirect effects of the digital economy on the HQD of undertakings for the aged through the influence of the intermediary variable. The spatial panel model is then used to analyze the spatial spillover effect of the digital economy on the HQD of undertakings for the aged., Results: The digital economy has a positive effect (coefficient = 0.1530, P-value < 0.01) on the local HQD of undertakings for the aged and a negative effect (coefficient = - 0.1012, P-value < 0.01) on the level of the HQD of undertakings for the aged in neighboring areas after controlling for other variables. The mediation effect of the proportion of the tertiary industry in GDP accounts for 6.6% of the total effect of the digital economy on the HQD of undertakings for the aged., Conclusions: The digital economy can significantly promote the HQD of undertakings for the aged by transforming the development of the tertiary industry. The improvement in the digital economy has a significant spatial spillover effect. This research enriches the existing body of literature by suggesting effective ways to enhance the HQD of undertakings for the aged through the digital economy and the tertiary industry., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

This study presents the case of China's Jiangsu Province. The spatial-temporal pattern evolution of different manufacturing sectors is discussed using spatial analysis technology (spatial autocorrelation and standard deviation ellipses). The Granger test is used to analyze the relationship between the change in the manufacturing industry spatial agglomeration and regional economic differences. The following conclusions are drawn: 1) The spatial agglomeration trend of most manufacturing sectors is weakening. Much of the manufacturing sector, like the rubber and plastic product industries, has been transferred from southern to northern Jiangsu. 2) From the scale, only a minority of these enterprises possess substantial registered capital. The capital injection scale of more manufacturing enterprises is insignificant. At the same time, manufacturing companies with substantial financial resources are increasingly inclined to choose less-concentrated areas when choosing new investment areas. 3) The reduction of regional economic differences is considered to be the Granger-cause for the decline of the spatial agglomeration degree of the manufacturing industry in Jiangsu Province. Analyzing the spatiotemporal pattern of the manufacturing industry in Jiangsu Province will provide specific policy reference values for the manufacturing industry and economic development of Jiangsu province. In addition, for companies of different sizes, the findings of this paper also provide valuable references on how they can choose suitable investment locations according to their size in the future., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

The construction of ecological livability plays a crucial role in achieving ecological civilization. During economic development, conflicts between urban populations, resources, and the environment have become increasingly prominent. Although China's efforts in building ecological livability have made certain achievements, they are still in the early stages, making research in this area very necessary. This study aims to establish an indicator system for the level of ecological livability construction from four aspects: ecology, society, residents' living conditions, and economy. Based on panel data from 2008 to 2021, the entropy-TOPSIS model was used to evaluate the level of ecological livability construction in Zhangjiajie City. Additionally, the coupling coordination degree model was employed to study the correlation and coordination among different indicators within the system. Furthermore, the obstacle degree model was introduced to explore the main factors affecting the improvement of ecological livability construction levels. The results show that, over the fourteen-year period, the proximity of Zhangjiajie City's ecological livability construction level decreased from 0.2712 in 2008 to 0.2547 in 2010, then rose to 0.7686 in 2021, reaching a medium coordination level, with the constraining effects among the ecological livability systems weakening. The average wage of employees, the proportion of social security and employment expenditure to fiscal expenditure, the per capita total postal and telecommunications business volume, the per capita number of public library collections, and the proportion of education expenditure to fiscal expenditure have become the main influencing factors of Zhangjiajie City's ecological livability construction level., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist, (Copyright: © 2024 Deng et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

In the context of promoting the orderly expansion of capital investment and rational allocation of resources to achieve green and circular economic development. Green finance, as a new engine to promote the sustainability of enterprises, holds significant importance in exploring the positive effect of green finance policies on optimizing the investment decisions of enterprises and guiding them to efficiently utilize their resources to maximize value creation. Using A-share listed companies in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2012 to 2022 as the research sample, we apply the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method to test the impact of the green finance reform and innovation pilot zones (2017) on the investment efficiency of enterprises in the pilot regions. We also adopt a two-step method to test the mechanisms of financial resource misallocation and agency costs. The study reveals that the green finance policy significantly enhances the investment efficiency of enterprises in the pilot areas. Financial resource misallocation and agency costs are important influence mechanisms. Drawing on resource allocation theory and agency theory, the study concludes that the green finance policy alleviates financial resource misallocation by directing financial resources toward high-efficiency enterprises. Moreover, the policy effectively reduces agency conflicts caused by power separation and information asymmetry, ensuring that enterprises can maximize the benefits of their investments. Heterogeneity analysis shows that non-state-owned enterprises and low-tech innovative enterprises in the pilot areas have disadvantages in terms of capital stock and loan credit, so the policy can improve their investment efficiency effectively. Based on these findings, we recommend that to leverage the positive effects of the green finance policy, it is essential to enhance the guiding role of the government, strengthen market mechanisms, and bolster corporate initiatives. This study complements the research on the economic effects of location-orientated comprehensive green finance policies on enterprises, considering the dual aspects of resource allocation efficiency and corporate governance, and makes up for the shortcomings of the existing literature. The study's conclusions offer valuable insights for enhancing green finance to support enterprises in achieving efficient production., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Wang, Shao. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Storm surge disasters have caused devastating losses to coastal areas, making disaster prevention and mitigation capacity (DPMC) critical in promoting high-quality and sustainable economic development. In this paper, the systematic construction of a comprehensive index of storm surge disaster losses (SSDLs) and DPMC in China is described respectively. Then, panel fixed effect and threshold models are established to explore the relationship between SSDLs and economic growth, in particular, the moderating effect of DPMC. Our results reveal that, from 2006 to 2019, SSDLs exhibit an inverted N-shaped trend, with losses gradually decreasing from south to north. DPMC has been increasing but has visible spatial differences. Notably, SSDLs have a significant negative impact on economic development in China's coastal areas, however, DPMC can play an effective role in mitigating and regulating these negative shocks. With the continuous improvement of China's disaster prevention and mitigation system, SSDLs can be largely offset. Heterogeneity analysis shows that DPMC is most effective in the sample with a high SSDL, low DPMC, and in the southern marine economic circle in China. Further, the robustness tests are ensured by replacing measurement method, replacing GDP per capita with night-time lighting data, and replacing econometric models. Importantly, our study highlights the crucial non-linear role of DPMC in reducing the losses caused by storm surge disasters and promoting sustainable economic development. These findings provide valuable insights for policymakers to improve capacity building and subjectivity, regional cooperation and ensure the economic resilience of coastal areas in the face of storm surge disasters., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Bank liquidity creation fosters economic growth while entailing liquidity mismatch risk. This study explores whether improving bank efficiency during liquidity creation can mitigate systemic risks. We propose a bank liquidity creation efficiency measure based on a stochastic frontier approach to analyze Chinese commercial listed banks from 2000-2021. Through systemic risk decomposition, we find that higher profit efficiency alleviates individual tail risk but strengthens system linkage for Chinese banks, representing a double-edged effect. Further analysis reveals that high profit efficiency is associated with more investment in real estate and higher risk-taking on loans. Banks' digital transformation can help alleviate the dilemma of being too connected to the system. The results provide implications for emerging markets to prevent risk and promote economic growth., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Tan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

This study uses the non-expected SBM-DEM model of factor input-output to measure the green manufacturing efficiency of 274 cities at prefecture level and above in China. The relationship between digital economy and green manufacturing efficiency is analysed on this basis. It is found that the current coupling coordination between digital economy and green manufacturing efficiency is low overall, and there are obvious regional differences. And the digital economy has a significant positive impact on the green manufacturing efficiency of the region and the neighbouring regions, so the digital economy has a radiation effect on the green manufacturing efficiency. Among them, industrial agglomeration plays part of the mediating effect. Based on this conclusion, the following policy recommendations are proposed: first, accelerate the development of the digital economy to stimulate the new kinetic energy of urban green development. Second, implement differentiated development strategies, focusing on the leading role of green advanced cities. Third, deepen the convergence of industries and smooth the channels for green urban development., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Sun et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Digitalization and greening are two major characteristics of economic and social development, and promoting the deep synergy of these two factors has significant practical relevance for employment. However, the question of whether synergy between digitalization and greening promotes or hinders employment has not been answered in the literature. Therefore, a synergistic framework was first constructed for urban greening and digitalization based on green pulling and the digital empowerment mechanism. By using data from 281 cities in China from 2011 to 2021, the synergistic effects of digitalization and greening on employment and its underlying mechanisms were explored in this study. The findings revealed that (1) the synergistic development of these two factors can indeed promote employment, and this result remains valid after numerous robustness tests are performed. (2) Mechanism analysis revealed that the synergy can enhance employment by promoting regional innovation and entrepreneurship and increasing human capital investment. (3) Heterogeneity analysis showed that there was a more significantly positive effect on employment in the tertiary industry, in eastern and central regions, and among governments with a greater preference for innovation. (4) Further research has shown that this synergy has a prominent spatial spillover effect on employment, and it remains valid after the matrix is replaced. These results offer policy references for fully unleashing the employment-creating effect of the synergy between digitalization and greening and thereby achieving high-quality development., Competing Interests: Declarations Competing interests The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

As globalization and economic development accelerate, Chinese tea has emerged as an essential export commodity in the international market. China boasts abundant tea resources, which have significantly promoted economic growth through tea exports. This study analyses the relevant literature and the prevailing state of China's tea export trade. Using statistical data on tea exports and empirical research methodologies, this investigation examines the key determinants influencing the high-quality development of China's tea export sector. The research integrates relevant frontier theories from management science and engineering to propose tailored recommendations. The study reveals that while the industry has demonstrated robust economic growth, it is confronted with challenges such as the need for enhanced brand visibility and adherence to international quality benchmarks. The research findings highlight the positive influence of the "Belt and Road" initiative on the tea export trade, which advocates for strategic international collaboration. This study concludes with policy recommendations that underscore the importance of bolstering the international dissemination of Chinese tea culture, standardizing export practices, and fostering global cooperation to augment the industry's high-quality development trajectory. The findings aim to enhance the export capabilities of Chinese tea and foster the robust growth of the tea export industry., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Qin, Zhou. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Innovation is the source of economic growth. Innovation in a region comes from its own knowledge creation and knowledge spillovers from other regions. Previous studies showed that R&D factors flow benefits knowledge spillover, thereby promoting economic growth. But these studies ignored the impact of a region's knowledge-absorptive capacity on knowledge spillovers. Ignoring the impact of regional absorptive capacity means that the knowledge spillover from the same R&D factors flow is the same, clearly inconsistent with reality. This thesis analyzes the impact of R&D factors flow on economic growth and explores the moderating effect of regional absorptive capacity on the relationship between R&D factors flow and economic growth from theoretical and empirical perspectives. First, we construct a knowledge creation and diffusion model of the new economic geography, including regional absorptive capacity, and analyze the theoretical logic of the flow of R&D factors and regional absorptive capacity influencing economic growth. Second, we employ spatial econometric models to examine the impact of R&D factors flow and regional absorptive capacity on economic growth, utilizing panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2021. The results demonstrated a spatial positive correlation between regional economic growth in China. The R&D factors flow could have significantly promoted not just a region's direct economic growth, but also the economic growth of surrounding regions via spatial spillover effects. Furthermore, the stronger the regional absorptive capacity, the greater the direct effects and spatial spillover effects of the R&D factors flow on economic growth. The novelty of this article is to introduce regional absorptive capacity into the theoretical model, refine the methodology for assessing regional absorptive capacity in empirical research, and examine its moderating effect between the inflow of R&D factors and regional economic growth. This article reveals that the positive impact of the inflow of R&D factors on spatial spillovers and economic growth varies depending on regional absorptive capacity. According to the conclusions above, enhancing regional absorptive capacity is equally important as facilitating the flow of R&D factors. Therefore, it is vital for a region to strengthen its absorptive capacity for new knowledge while promoting R&D factors flow. The study provides valuable policy insights for accelerating the flow of innovation factors, enhancing regional absorptive capacity, and consequently promoting long-term sustainable economic development in the region., Competing Interests: No potential conflict of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Li et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Limited studies examined the interaction effects between summer heat exposure and economic development on the settlement intention, especially for the floating population. Binary logistic regression model was used to examine the association of summer temperature, per capita GRDP (PGRDP), summer temperature × PGRDP with settlement intention. Additive interaction term for summer temperature and PGRDP level was used to test the interactive effects. This study indicates that summer heat exposure will decrease the settlement intention of migrants (OR:1.386, 95% CI: 1.35-1.423), while PGRDP will increase settlement intention (OR: 0.893, 95% CI: 0.870-0.917). There is a negative interaction between summer temperature and PGRDP in the additive model. To a certain extent, summer heat exposure can weaken the attractiveness of economic development for migrants to settle down, they prefer to settle in cities with favorable temperatures and high levels of economic development. Stratified analyses illustrated that summer heat exposure showed lower settlement intention among female, the elderly, engaged in agriculture and industry and living in central China. The government should take measures about mitigation, adaptation and balancing economic development and climate change to reduce the adverse impacts of summer heat, and pay more attention to vulnerable groups and backward regions., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: The data used in this study were from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS), which is a publicly accessible database. According to the requirements of the official website of the database, we submitted the data use application and obtained the official approval and download permission. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Enhancing and strengthening food production capacity has always been a top priority in agricultural research, serving as a cornerstone for ensuring national food security and stable economic development. This study, based on panel data spanning from 2011 to 2021 across 30 provinces in China, delves into the mechanism through which the digital economy impacts food production capacity. Employing a double fixed effect model, a mediation effect model, and a panel threshold model, we uncover several key findings: The digital economy significantly boosts food production capacity, with robustness tests affirming the reliability of our results. Mechanism analysis reveals that the digital economy enhances food production capacity by elevating total factor productivity and bolstering agricultural resilience. The threshold effect underscores that urbanization levels exhibit a single-threshold impact, wherein the influence of the digital economy on food production capacity intensifies upon crossing this threshold. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the digital economy significantly boosts food production capacity in central and primary grain-producing regions, while its impact is comparatively weaker in the eastern and western regions, as well as in non-primary grain-producing areas. In summary, this research sheds light on the pivotal role of the digital economy in augmenting food production capacity, offering valuable insights into regional variations and thresholds in its impact across China., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Importance: A negative association between neonatal mortality and hospital delivery has been found in some low- and lower-middle-income countries but not in rural settings characterized by poor quality of maternal and child health care., Objective: To examine the association between neonatal mortality and hospital delivery in China across urban and rural regions, regional disparities, and varying levels of economic development., Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study used county-level data from 2008 to 2020 from the National Maternal & Child Health Statistics across mainland China. Statistical analysis was conducted from March to December 2023., Exposures: Since 2008, China has strategically leveraged hospital deliveries with national subsidies to diminish neonatal mortality, particularly in rural areas., Main Outcomes and Measures: Neonatal mortality and hospital delivery rates were calculated, and their association was estimated using multivariable fixed-effects linear models of county-level cohort data to adjust for time-invariant differences across counties and controls for gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, women's years of education, hospital beds, and health workers., Results: The analysis included data from 2930 counties, with 198.7 million live births across 36 255 county-year records between 2008 and 2020. The mean (SD) neonatal mortality rate per 1000 live births decreased in rural areas from 12.3 (7.5) in 2008 to 3.9 (2.7) in 2020 and decreased in urban areas from 5.0 (3.1) in 2008 to 2.0 (1.3) in 2020. Hospital delivery rates increased in rural areas from a mean (SD) of 93.4% (11.8%) in 2008 to 99.9% (0.6%) in 2020 and increased in urban areas from 97.7% (6.1%) in 2008 to 100.0% (0.1%) in 2020. In rural areas, an increase of 10 percentage points in hospital deliveries was associated with a neonatal mortality rate of -1.4 (95% CI, -1.9 to -1.0; P < .001) per 1000 live births, whereas this negative association was not observed in urban areas. When the analysis was stratified by regions and incomes, the negative association became considerably stronger in the western and central regions of China, as well as in counties with lower GDP per capita., Conclusions and Relevance: This cohort study of more than 2900 counties in China suggests that an increase in hospital deliveries was associated with reduced neonatal mortality in rural and economically underdeveloped areas in China. To further reduce neonatal mortality and improve newborn health, it is imperative to increase the accessibility of hospital delivery services.

As the Latin American economies contend with improving public health while simultaneously dealing with ecological issues, understanding the determinant of life expectancy becomes imperative. This study explores the interaction among environmental technology, economic development, cleaner energy transitions, industrial growth, particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5), carbon emission, and their collective impact on life expectancy across Latin American nations. The research incorporates advanced econometric approaches comprising Mean Group (MG), Pooled Mean Group (PMG), and Method of Moments Quantile Regression (MMQR). The study's outcome established that cleaner energy transitions, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), industrialization and environmental technologies significantly improve life expectancy, especially at higher quantiles. However, the outcome highlighted that PM2.5 and carbon emissions reduce life expectancy. Additionally, this study supports the unidirectional connection between environmental technology, economic development, cleaner energy transitions, industrial growth, life expectancy, and the bidirectional connection flowing from carbon emission PM2.5 to life expectancy. The study offers a roadmap for Latin America and global economies to invest in technology, cleaner power supply and industrialization to provide a route toward sustainable development and better public health that will eventually improve their citizens' life expectancy., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Policymakers and stakeholders can use insights from price elasticity and income elasticities of energy demand to devise targeted interventions that promote energy efficiency, reduce reliance on fossil fuels, and drive the transition to more sustainable and resilient energy systems. This study seeks to examine how changes in income elasticity and price elasticity affect energy consumption over time using the ARDL model and a time-varying parameter technique, state-space Kalman filter. The study's findings reveal that energy prices have a negative and significant impact on energy consumption, whereas GDP per capita and population growth have a positive and significant impact on energy consumption in both the short and long run. The findings underline the importance of economic growth and increasing population in driving growing energy demand in India, which is consistent with the country's energy-intensive development aspirations. The time-varying analysis shows that the price elasticity of energy consumption follows a U-shaped pattern across time. However, from the onset of the new millennium decade, the elasticity of energy consumption with regard to its price has continually decreased, reaching - 0.54 by 2020. Furthermore, the findings imply that the income elasticity of India's energy demand has stabilized around unity, indicating that the country is currently near the middle of the energy intensity-GDP inverted-U trajectory. Given these evolving elasticities, policymakers should take a flexible and forward-thinking strategy to achieve optimal energy consumption levels., Competing Interests: Declarations. Ethical approval: We declare that this manuscript has not been submitted elsewhere. Consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.)