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The inflow of foreign R&D has brought vigor and vitality to the development of the high-tech industry (HTI). Using the panel data of HTI in 23 provinces (autonomous provinces and municipalities) in China from 2007 to 2016, this paper firstly calculates the Moran index of HTI's innovation performance (IP), and finds a spatial agglomeration effect. After rigorous testing, we determine the most suitable spatial metering model. Finally, the spatial effect is further decomposed into three kinds of effects: direct effect, indirect effect, and total effect. This paper studies the impact of foreign research and development (R&D) on IP of HTI and its spatial spillover effects. According to the research, foreign R&D has a significant role in promoting IP of HTI in China, and has specific spatial spillover effects. Significantly, foreign R&D has substantial positive spillover effects of space. When IP of HTI is measured by product innovation, there is no obvious space overflow. However, panel regression showed a significant positive effect. In terms of the influence on product IP of HTI, foreign R&D plays an almost equal role as local R&D. In terms of the impact on technological IP of HTI, foreign R&D input plays a positive role. It has a spatial spillover effect, the degree of impact is lower than that of domestic R&D input. Local governments should formulate relevant policies to encourage the fluidity of technical knowledge and overcome the sticky problem of foreign R&D technical knowledge, which is an essential aspect of absorbing foreign R&D technical knowledge in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerating the formation of a green dual-circulation pattern is an essential strategic choice for China to achieve high-quality development. As a vital link for two-way economic and trade cooperation, the pilot free trade zone (PFTZ) is an important window for promoting green dual-circulation development. From the perspective of green dual-circulation, this paper attempts to construct a comprehensive index system of green dual-circulation by entropy weight method based on Chinese provincial panel data from 2007 to 2020 and uses the Propensity Score Matching–Difference in Differences method to test the policy impact of PFTZ building on regional green dual-circulation. The empirical results show that: (1) the establishment of PFTZs significantly promotes regional green dual-circulation development by 3%-4%. This policy effect has a strong positive impact on the eastern regions; (2) PFTZs can improve regional green dual circulation through the effect of green finance, technological progress, and the agglomeration of innovative talents. The mediating effect of green finance and technological progress is more pronounced; (3) The promotion effect of PFTZs is primarily due to the local green circulation effect, with no significant effects on the surrounding areas; and (4) There is a positive policy linkage effect between PFTZs and the Belt and Road Initiative. This study creates the analytical perspective and empirical support for assessing the policy impact of PFTZs and provides management insights for PFTZ policymakers in promoting green dual-circulation development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this paper is to study the impact of the Ambient Air Quality Standard (2012) on the green innovation of Chinese firms in polluting industries. The analysis features "leverage effect" of Porter Hypothesis imposed by environmental regulations and exploits exogenous variations caused by the promulgation of the new policy. Based on the exogenous variations, this paper uses the time varying PSM-DID method. The findings of this study suggest that the implementation of the new policy improves firms' green innovation. Increments in R&D investment and environmental protection investment are channels through which the new standard positively affects firms' green innovation. The cross-sectional heterogeneity analysis exhibits that the effect of this environmental regulation is stronger for firms with bigger size and lower financial constraints. The contribution and significance of this study are as follows: our study enriches understanding of the impact of environmental regulation on firms' green innovation by empirically confirming the influencing channels of the impact of environmental regulations on green innovation. In addition, this paper contributes to the firms' green innovation literature by empirically validating the role of corporate characteristics in moderating the effect of environmental regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial pollution reduction is a crucial issue in the pursuit of sustainable economic and environmental development. As a product of the deep integration of traditional finance and Internet information technology, digital finance has become an effective tool for regulating the use of funds and strengthening the effectiveness of policies in the context of the digital era, which has obvious effects on industrial pollution emissions. Using panel data of 260 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011–2019 and the digital inclusive finance index jointly compiled by Peking University and Ant Financial Services Group, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of digital finance on industrial pollution emissions through fixed effects model, mediating effects model and threshold effects model. The empirical results show that digital finance can effectively reduce industrial pollution and part of the impact is achieved through industrial structure. In the process of reducing industrial pollution by digital finance, there exists double threshold effects. When the development of digital finance breaks the threshold value, the industrial pollution emission reduction effect appears to accelerate. Finally, this paper puts forward targeted suggestions to promote industrial pollution reduction and environmental economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper summarizes the transmission chain of "digital finance-financing constraint-firm innovation" at the theoretical and practical levels, incorporates digital finance into the empirical analysis framework of firm innovation, selects the data of Chinese GEM(Growth Enterprise Market)-listed companies from 2011 to 2020, and matches the data of the digital inclusive finance index. The paper empirically examines the incentive effect and impact mechanism of digital finance on SME innovation through the two-way fixed-effects model and mediated-effects model by matching the data of China GEM-listed companies from 2011 to 2020 with the digital financial inclusion index data. The findings show that the digital development and promotion of digital finance play a significantly positive impact in helping SMEs innovate and stimulate innovation. The effect is realized by alleviating corporate financing constraints. Further, digital finance has different incentive effects on enterprises with varying rights of property nature, as well as on other regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a crucial component of hierarchical diagnosis and treatment systems, medical alliances in China are responsible for promoting the downward allocation of high-quality medical resources. Remote consultation, as an essential means to achieve this goal, is of practical importance in the realization of resource sharing between hospitals within medical alliances in China. The existing research on the construction of remote consultations within medical alliances has achieved fruitful results in both theory and practice. However, the establishment of remote consultation involves many factors, and the current research mainly focuses on the influence of traditional economic profit and loss on the construction of remote consultation. In view of the practical problems existing in the operation of medical and health services in China, such as the need to improve the capacity of primary medical and health services and the poor sinking effect of high-quality medical resources, it is of great importance to systematically study the promotion strategy of the construction of remote consultation within the medical alliance to build a reasonable order of medical treatment. Therefore, by determining the logical path formed by the remote consultation channel and on the basis of traditional profit and loss parameters, this paper fully considers the relevant influence of the resource sinking utility caused by the remote consultation channel. The stability of the evolutionary system is analyzed, and a numerical simulation is used to explore the impact of key parameters on system evolution. The research results indicate that the establishment of a remote consultation system between hospitals at different levels is primarily influenced by factors such as the initial proportion of the establishment strategy chosen by both parties, the establishment cost, the distribution proportion of the government subsidy, the distribution proportion of the economic benefit, and the effectiveness proportion in the utility derived from the downward allocation of resources and reputational damage. The findings suggest that moderate to high levels of reputation loss do not significantly influence the final decision-making process for either party. Government subsidies can have an impact on hospital decision-making in the early stages, and in the long term, the resource sinking utility is more appealing than the economic benefits. To a certain extent, this study enriches the related research on remote consultation and the sinking of high-quality medical resources, provides reliable theoretical and method support for the sinking of high-quality medical resources, promotes the construction of remote consultation in medical alliances in China, and provides a decision-making reference and basis for the government and health administrative departments to formulate relevant policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effect of Chinese outward foreign direct investment (FDI) on youth unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by using a modified labour demand model to identify the investment sources that are helpful for reducing youth unemployment in the region. The model is applied to a panel of 42 countries for the period 2003–2021 using random-effect, and generalized method of moment (GMM) estimators for robustness check. Our results suggest that Chinese FDI has direct short-term reducing effect on youth unemployment in SSA. The direction of China's capital investment to infrastructure development and other labour-intensive activities leads to immediate reduction in youth unemployment. However, overtime, due to absence of linkages with domestic firms, and thus lack of demand effects, Chinese FDI becomes insignificant for employment creation. Our results also indicate that Other FDI does not lead to significant reduction in youth unemployment both currently and overtime. Our analysis gives partial support to the argument that the impact of Chinese FDI may differ from those of developed countries. Finally, we could not find evidence that the effect of FDI on employment depends on host country human capital and institutional quality. Several specifications of the empirical model are tested, and explanations are provided for the results. Policy implications are highlighted, especially the need to attract more job absorbing FDI and improve domestic absorptive capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the peer and economic effects of corporate poverty alleviation behavior. Using the data of A-share non-financial listed corporates in Shanghai and Shenzhen of China from 2016 to 2020, the empirical analysis of this study finds that: corporate poverty alleviation behavior has significant peer effects; the guidance of local poverty alleviation policies weakens the peer effects of corporate poverty alleviation behavior; compared to private enterprises, the poverty alleviation behavior of the peer firms has a more significant impact on state-owned enterprises; and corporate poverty alleviation behavior can result in the backflow of economic benefits and achieve the organic unity of economic and social benefits. The purpose of this paper is to explore the peer effects of corporate poverty alleviation behaviors through empirical analysis using available public data. The results of the study not only increase the motivation of corporate to participate in poverty alleviation from a peer effects perspective, but also reveal key factors for sustaining corporate poverty alleviation behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under economic globalization, countries are linked through trade and investments. This economic interdependence creates vulnerabilities. The indirect vulnerability induced by interdependent networks of trade and investments can put a country's economy at risk, but this risk has yet to be systematically quantified and investigated. In this paper, we developed the novel Potential Indirect Vulnerability Index (PIVI) to capture how interdependencies between networks of trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) may induce economic vulnerabilities. The model consisted of three main components: a target country (the importer of goods), an investing country (the exporter of FDI), and the intermediary countries that export commodities to the target country and receive FDI from the investing country, serving as conduits of the vulnerabilities caused indirectly by the investing country. The PIVI quantifies the indirect vulnerabilities based on the product of two fractions: 1) the dependency of the target country on commodities from each intermediary country; and 2) the dependency of each intermediary country on FDI from the investing country. We demonstrated the utility of PIVI by examining the US economy's vulnerability to China using 2019 trade and FDI data. Several Asian countries and a mix of agricultural products and raw materials were identified as conduits through which China could potentially influence the US economy. Vietnam was a sizeable risk because, while it has been a primary source of many US imports, it also received about 30% of its FDI from China. The US policy makers might opt to increase diversity in trade partners or to promote investment in countries such as Vietnam. We also applied the PIVI analysis to critical minerals, identifying cobalt, tungsten, and copper as the most vulnerability-inducing among them. PIVI is a flexible metric than can be aggregated and modified to provide a more nuanced and focused assessment of an economy's vulnerability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of hikers' choosing a destination, searching for information is one of the important elements, playing a decisive role in decision-making. Based on the Baidu Index for "hiking," this paper analyzes the spatial and temporal characteristics of and factors that influenced network attention to hiking in China from 2016 to 2021. The study found that (1) Network attention to hiking in China was generally relatively stable across the period studied, with highly uneven distribution between different months. The search volume was higher on weekends, and mobile searches increased year by year, far exceeding computer searches. (2) Different regions in China experienced different levels of network attention, with the highest levels in the east, followed by the center, and the lowest in the west. Except for East China, network attention to hiking was highly unevenly distributed within each region. (3) The COVID-19 pandemic increased the geographical concentration index and coefficient of variation but reduced the primacy index. A region's level of economic development, degree of network development, population size, and population age structure are proposed as factors that affect network attention to hiking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban last-mile express delivery in China encounters several challenges. This paper presents the establishment of a sharing logistics center aimed at enhancing the overall efficiency of urban last-mile express delivery while optimizing the utilization of essential resources. The successful implementation of shared delivery within sharing logistics center necessitates the creation of a robust collaborative mechanism. Recognizing that cooperative benefit allocation is dynamically influenced by factors such as resource input, operational efficiency, risk management, and other cost-related considerations, this study introduces a multi-weight H-Shapley value method for benefit allocation. By conducting empirical analyses of urban last-mile express delivery in Beijing within a sharing logistics service framework, our findings reveal that the revised benefit allocation model better aligns with the interests of participating entities and positively correlates with their contributions. Analyzing the impact of delivery volume and express operational costs changes, it is found that when the delivery volume and express operational costs of the sharing logistics center change, the benefits of participating enterprises move in the same direction. The benefit allocation model established in this study enriches the existing body of research in the field of shared delivery and offers valuable insights for benefit allocation issues that necessitate consideration of the dynamic effects of multiple parameter variations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on firms in which insiders pledge their shares as collateral for loans. By investigating a natural experiment—China's enactment of provisions on share reductions that restrict pledge creditors' cashing-out behavior—we find that pledging firms exhibited more conservative financial reporting after the implementation than non-pledging firms. This effect was pronounced in firms with a higher ratio of pledged shares, a longer maturation period of the pledged shares, and more concentrated pledge creditors. Additionally, we show that pledging firms increased their accounting conservatism after the shock, leading to a lower risk of margin calls and stock price crashes. The effect on accounting conservatism was stronger in firms with controlling pledgers or when the pledge creditors were banks. Our results remained consistent after we performed several robustness tests. These behaviors are economically logical because the provisions heighten creditors' liquidity risk and the potential losses of loan default. Pledging shareholders embrace more accounting conservatism to mitigate creditors' concerns about agency costs and avoid triggering margin calls. Our findings provide direct support that creditors have a real demand for accounting conservatism and highlight the impact of shareholder-creditor conflicts on the financial reporting policies of pledging firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of earthquake disaster reduction efforts in China, the content of earthquake disaster reduction policies has become increasingly enriched and improved. Particularly, multiple provincial governments have proposed earthquake disaster reduction planning policies. It is important to explore whether these policies can affect disaster mitigation. Therefore, this paper summarizes the earthquake disaster reduction plans and factors influencing seismic resilience. Panel data from 24 provinces between 2012 and 2021 were collected, and a difference-in-differences approach was used to construct an econometric model to evaluate the policy effects and analyze the enhancement of seismic resilience. The results show that the implementation of earthquake disaster reduction policies has a positive impact on earthquake monitoring, evacuation, and emergency relief capabilities, and the estimated policy effects are statistically significant. Moreover, a series of tests were conducted. The conclusions are as follows: (1) Earthquake disaster reduction policies have a positive impact on the improvement of seismic resilience in provinces. (2) Provinces with a higher number of earthquakes experience more significant effects from earthquake disaster reduction policies. (3) Provinces with higher seismic peak ground acceleration values exhibit more pronounced improvements in seismic resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amid the increasing global internet penetration, understanding the impact of internet use on residents' health is crucial. This aids in formulating more effective health policies and provides empirical evidence for promoting health equity and improving overall public health. Drawing on the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this paper employs the Propensity Score Matching-Difference in Differences (PSM-DID) method to examine the impact of the internet on individual health and further explores the pathways through which the internet affects health. We introduce the research background and significance in the introduction. Then, in the theoretical analysis, it incorporates internet variables into the Becker health demand model to analyze changes in health demand and impact pathways. The empirical analysis tests the theoretical findings, leading to empirical results. Finally, the study discusses the results and provides relevant recommendations. The findings indicate significant positive effects of the internet on both physical and psychological health. These effects are realized through reducing health information asymmetry, lowering health costs, and increasing exposure to health-promoting environments. In the heterogeneity analysis, economic-related internet content shows a significant positive impact on resident health. Intensive internet use adversely affects psychological health. The beneficial effects of the internet on health are more pronounced among older individuals, those covered by medical insurance, and regions with higher levels of digital economy. Based on these findings, the study offers policy recommendations concerning individuals' internet use patterns, the digital evolution of the healthcare industry, and government infrastructure development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

This paper studied an integrated process planning and scheduling problem from a machining workshop for large-size valves in a valve manufacturing plant. Large-size valves usually contain several key parts and are generally produced in small-series production. Almost all the parts need to be manufactured in the same workshop at the same time in the plant. Facilities have to handle various items in one order, including different models, sizes, and types. It is a classical NP-hard problem on a large scale. An improved NSGA-II algorithm is suggested to obtain satisfactory solutions for makespan and manufacturing costs, which involve large optimization parameters and interactions. A two-section encoding method and an inserting greedy decoding method are chosen to enable the algorithm. The dynamic population update strategy based on dynamic population update and the adaptive mutation technique depending on the population entropy changing rate are selected for enhancing both the solution quality and population diversity. The methodology was successfully implemented in a real-life case at a major valve machining workshop operated by Yuanda Valve Company in China. By taking into account realistic factors and restrictions that have been identified from a real-world manufacturing setting, this technique aids in bridging the knowledge gap between present IPPS research and practical valve production implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The new development pattern has identified two key avenues for the sustained advancement of high-quality agricultural and rural development: digitalisation and low-carbon development. The measurement of the digital economy and the agricultural carbon emission performance, and their spatial and temporal heterogeneity, is a crucial step in promoting the spatial coordination and sustainable development of digitalisation and low-carbon agriculture. This paper employs the entropy value method, SBM model, and coupling coordination degree model to investigate the coupling coordination measurement and spatial-temporal heterogeneity of the performance of the digital economy and agricultural carbon emissions. The data used are provincial panel data from 2013 to 2021. The simulation results demonstrate that, between 2013 and 2021, the digital economy of all provinces exhibited varying degrees of growth, yet the development of the digital economy between provinces exhibited a more pronounced tendency to diverge. Concurrently, the agricultural carbon emission efficiency in China exhibited a fluctuating upward trend. The development of the digital economy and the efficiency of agricultural carbon emission were found to be highly coupled. Their coupling and coordination relationship showed a downward trend followed by an upward trend. In general, it is suggested that we should increase investment in digital economy infrastructure and technology, promote digital agricultural applications, strengthen policy guidance and financial support, establish a coupling coordination mechanism and strengthen farmers' digital literacy and environmental awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is transitioning into the digital economy era. The advancement of the digital economy could offer a fresh mechanism to attain carbon peak and carbon neutrality objectives. Applications of the digital economy, such as smart energy management, intelligent transport systems, and digital agricultural technologies, have significantly reduced carbon emissions by optimizing resource use, reducing energy waste, and improving production efficiency. This research does so by devising a theoretical model that looks into the multi-faceted power of the digital economy under a two-sector paradigm. Utilising a panel model, a mediation effect model and a spatial Durbin model to assess the digital economy's power on carbon emissions. This research has determined that the digital economy can significantly diminish carbon emissions, with green tech innovations and industrial transformation being key contributors. The spatial spillover effect was used for the digital economy to aid in lowering carbon emissions in adjacent districts and upgrading better environmental stewardship. The influence of the digital economy has better performance in lowering carbon emissions in mid-western China than in the eastern area. This paper deepens understanding of the drivers of low-carbon growth and the significance, mechanism and regional disparities of the digital economy's effect on reducing carbon emissions. It offers valuable policy insights and guidance for globally achieving digital economy growth, reducing carbon emissions and reaching carbon peak and neutrality goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon pilot city (LCPC) plays a pivotal role in stimulating green innovation among enterprises. However, relying solely on policy often proves less effective, necessitating support from financial development. Yet, current research frequently overlooks the impact of financial development on LCPC policy. Drawing on economic, management, and organizational psychology theories, we investigate the influence of the financial development level on enterprise green innovation in LCPC, utilizing data from listed companies between 2010 and 2018. The main finding is that LCPC facilitates institutional-level green innovation. Concurrently, financial development augments the effectiveness of LCPC policy, further expediting green innovation activities among enterprises in these pilot cities. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that financial development significantly promotes green innovation, particularly among state-owned enterprises, those with myopic management, non-high technology industries, and businesses in the southern region within LCPC. Mechanism tests identify enterprises' financing constraints and R&D investment levels as key pathways through which financial development fosters green economic development in LCPC. This study provides micro-level evidence from China elucidating the effects of environmental policies and offers practical implications for the low-carbon transformation of the manufacturing sector amid peak emissions and carbon-neutral targets. Additionally, it provides valuable guidance for other emerging economies seeking enhanced resource and environmental protection through the implementation of energy-saving and emission-reduction fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stroke stands as a significant macrovascular complication among individuals with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), often resulting in the primary cause of mortality and disability within this patient demographic. Presently, numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the underlying causes of stroke in individuals with T2DM, yet the findings exhibit inconsistencies. Objective: This paper aims to consolidate and summarize the available evidence concerning the influential factors contributing to stroke among patients diagnosed with T2DM. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive search across multiple databases, including Cochrane Library, PubMed, Web Of Science, Embase, China Biology Medicine (CBM), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang and Weipu up to August 2023. Google Scholar was also searched to retrieve gray literature. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Stata software. Results: Our analysis encompassed 43 observational studies, exploring factors across sociodemographic, biochemical, complications, and hypoglycemic agent categories. The findings identified several risk factors for stroke in patients with T2DM: age, gender, T2DM duration, hypertension, body-mass index (BMI), smoking, Glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate (eGFR), albuminuria, Triglycerides (TG), Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), Coronary heart disease (CHD), Atrial fibrillation (AF), diabetic retinopathy (DR), Peripheral vascular disease (PVD), and carotid plaque. Conversely, exercise, High density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), metformin (MET), pioglitazone, and metformin combination therapy emerged as protective factors. Conclusion: This study underscores the multitude of influencing factors contributing to stroke in people with T2DM patients, among which the microvascular complications of T2DM play an most important role. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of screening for microvascular complications in patients with T2DM. However, due to limitations arising from the number of articles reviewed, there remain areas where clarity is lacking. Further research efforts are warranted to expand upon and reinforce our current findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Global Investment Report 2023 revealed that after a sharp decline in 2020 and a strong rebound in 2021, global foreign direct investment (FDI) declined by 12 percent to $1.3 trillion in 2022. However, in developing countries, FDI increased by 4% to $916 billion, a record share of more than 70% of global flows. The number of greenfield investment projects in developing countries increased by 37 percent and international project finance transactions by 5 percent. Foreign investment from China, the second largest recipient of foreign investment globally, increased by 5 percent. The service industry has become the mainstream industry in the global FDI structure. The global industry is accelerating its transformation to a "service-based economy," international FDI in productive service industries has become an essential means of industrial transfer in developed countries and a meaningful way to upgrade the industrial structure and high-quality development in emerging economies. As a representative province in central China, Hubei Province has unique advantages in human capital, factor cost, and market potential, which provide preferential conditions to attract foreign investment. This paper first introduced the concept of the productive service industry, based on the relevant statistical data from 2011 to 2022, focused on the current situation of foreign investment utilization in five major sub-sectors of the productive service industry in Hubei Province in the past ten years, and empirically investigated the impact of foreign investment utilization in five major sub-sectors of the productive service industry on the economic growth of Hubei Province, and obtained that the level of foreign investment attraction varied significantly among the regions in Hubei Province. The three productive service industries, namely transportation, storage and postal services, information transmission, software and information technology services, and financial services, played a significant role in the active attraction and optimal utilization of foreign capital and the economic development of Hubei Province. Based on this, it was proposed to build a market-oriented rule of law and internationalized business environment, improve the infrastructure construction in different regions of the province, focus on the training of professional talents for the development of productive service industries, and pay attention to the improvement of independent innovation capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's "the Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) is a top-level cooperation initiative among countries proposed by China, which has promoted China's cooperation with relevant countries in various aspects and fields. Research reports from think tanks and experts on the evaluation, analysis, and research conclusions of the BRI can reflect the stance, opinions, and demands of various countries abroad regarding the initiative. This paper takes the BRI reports of important think tanks in the " Global Go To Think Tank Index Report 2020" as the subject of its research, and analyzes the key points and development trends of foreign think tank research on the BRI by using text mining, topic evolution, and social network analysis. It provides reasonable suggestions and ideas for promoting the construction of the BRI and deepening related cooperation in China. Research shows that the thematic distribution of research reports on the BRI by think tanks is mainly focused on the fields of politics, economy, and military. The research areas are relatively stable, and there is not a strong trend of thematic evolution. The evolution paths are also mainly distributed in the fields of politics, economy, and military. There are not many expansions in the thematic evolution directions over the years, and there is a strong inheritance of themes. The connection between research themes and the main purpose of the BRI is somewhat inadequate, indicating a certain limitation in the understanding of the BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a time-varying parameter vector autoregression model with stochastic volatility (TVP-VAR-SV), this paper investigates the dynamic effects of geopolitical risk on mutual fund risk taking in China across three-time horizons and at three selected time points. Overall, the impulse responses are time-varying and we find a negative effect of geopolitical risk on mutual fund risk taking until 2015, with the short-term effect being the most pronounced, suggesting that when professional investors such as mutual fund managers are faced with the stock valuation uncertainty due to a geopolitical shock, they choose to reduce market risk exposures. After 2015, the short-term effect begins to diminish and gradually turns positive, which could be explained by the fact that with the increasing abundance and diversification of investment instruments, fund managers have more effective investment tools and more sophisticated trading strategies to hedge against geopolitical risk, rather than reducing market risk exposure. Further, we explore the heterogeneous effects of eight types of geopolitical risk and three types of mutual fund. The results indicate that the effect of geopolitical actions is stronger than that of geopolitical threats, while the effect of narrow geopolitical risk is stronger than that of broad geopolitical risk. Moreover, we find that the response of the risk taking of growth funds to the geopolitical risk is weaker than that of balanced and income funds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid evolution of the digital economy has significantly accelerated progress towards achieving green and sustainable processes, particularly in the field of green production. While existing research has delved into the effects of the digital economy on Green Innovation (GI) and the consequences of digital transformation on Corporate Value (CV), there remains a notable gap in the literature regarding the potential for synergistic enhancements in firms' GI&CV through the ongoing digital revolution. This study utilizes an evolutionary game model and employs system dynamics methods to simulate the dynamic evolution trajectory of the influence of the digital economy on the synergy between GI&CV. Subsequently, it empirically assesses the interconnected synergies between GI&CV using a dataset comprising information from Chinese listed firms spanning from 2011 to 2020, examining the impact of the digital economy on these synergies. Moreover, the study delves into the analysis of the transmission mechanism and conducts an extended investigation to further explore this phenomenon. The findings of this paper including: (1) The digital economy acts as a driving force behind the synergistic enhancement of firm GI&CV. Moreover, this effect is further augmented by governmental environmental regulation and green subsidy policies. (2) Drawing upon the information asymmetry theory and the resource-based theory, the regional marketization level and firms' digital transformation play intermediary roles. (3) The heterogeneity test indicate that firms situated in eastern regions and those classified as non-heavily polluted benefitted to a greater extent. This study sheds light on the incentive implications of digital economy for the synergistic upgrading of GI&CV, thereby extending the breadth of study on the consequences of digital economy. Moreover, it offers actionable suggestions for enterprises to leverage digital economy development towards achieving a synergistic improvement of GI&CV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of macroeconomic policy uncertainty (EPU) on micro-level entities has garnered increasing attention in economic circles. This study examines the influence of EPU on the efficiency of investments made by China's A-share listed companies between 2016 and 2021. Using a panel fixed effect model for analysis, the research reveals that EPU has a notable adverse effect on the investment efficiency of enterprises. Furthermore, it suggests that advancements in digital finance, strong ESG performance, and enhanced entrepreneurial confidence can mitigate this negative impact effectively. The study also highlights that enterprises with lower valuation, shareholder control, limited audit reputation, and no bank connections are more vulnerable to the impact of EPU on investment efficiency compared to those with higher valuation, manager control, strong audit reputation, and bank connections. Consequently, future efforts should be directed towards enhancing the stability and relevance of economic policies, promoting digital finance, and enhancing corporate governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a comprehensive needs analysis of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) courses in colleges of art and design in China. By examining the perspectives of undergraduate students, graduate students, art teachers, and English teachers, the research identifies consensus and divergence in ESP needs and implementation challenges. The analysis reveals a strong demand among students for specialized English learning, with a particular emphasis on receptive and interactive skills. However, there is a widespread acknowledgement of students' difficulties across ESP skills, indicating a gap between student competencies and the professional demands, thus highlighting the need for targeted educational interventions to effectively address the difficulties. Notably, reading and writing abilities emerge as the most lacking skills. While there is unanimous recognition of the positive impact of ESP on students' professional abilities and international competitiveness, a significant disparity exists in the enthusiasm for implementing ESP courses, paticularly with resistence from English teachers. The study highlights the critical challenges in ESP teaching, with teacher qualifications identified as the most prominent issue. Interestingly, English teachers attribute difficulties primarily to teaching materials, indicating a potential lack of readiness for ESP course delivery. A gap is also observed between teachers' evaluations of student abilities and students' self-assessment, especially among undergraduate freshmen, suggesting an overestimation of their English proficiency in professional contexts. The paper concludes with the implication that for effective ESP course implementation in colleges of art and design in China, targeted faculty development programs and a collaborative approach involving English teachers, art teachers, and professionals are essential. The collaboration should aim to develop materials that integrate specific professional knowledge with linguistic expertise. Additionally, a balanced approach combining general English proficiency and specialized English training is recommended to address both foundational and specialized language skills. Overall, the study underscores the need for targeted ESP courses in art and design education, tailored to bridge the gap between current proficiency levels and professional language requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: According to the seventh national population census in China, the proportion of people aged 65 and above in the population reached 13.5%. The aging trend is more pronounced in rural areas, indicating that China has entered an aging society. This article focuses on agricultural carbon emissions in the context of aging, studying the impact of rural population aging on agricultural carbon emissions. Study objectives: Under the background of deepening population aging, let us discuss how to maintain the green and sustainable development of agriculture in China. Methodology: Fixed effects and mediating effects models are used. Technical efficiency is used as a mediating variable to discuss the relationship between rural population ageing, technical efficiency and agricultural carbon emissions. Results: This paper adopts the classical carbon emission calculation theory of IPCC to measure agricultural carbon emissions from 2010 to 2019, and China's plantation carbon emissions show an "inverted U-shaped" trend, reaching a high level in 2015 and then starting to decline. In addition, the fixed-effects benchmark regression found that the aging of the rural population promotes agricultural carbon emissions, and the technical efficiency of agriculture suppresses agricultural carbon emissions. Finally, the mediating effect model is applied to explore the relationship between the three. Using technical efficiency as the mediating variable, it is found that under the masking effect, rural population aging will weaken agricultural carbon emissions through technical efficiency, thus achieving the suppression of agricultural carbon emissions. Policy recommendation: The formulation and modification of agricultural carbon-reducing policy row policies should take full account of the broader context of rural population ageing; increase the interconnectedness and interaction between rural population ageing and agricultural production technology, and actively play a positive role in promoting the efficiency of agricultural technology as a result of rural population ageing; and, in accordance with the actual situation of agricultural research, appropriately increase the strength of financial support for agriculture to improve agricultural technology and promote low-carbon development in agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-carbon pilot policies are an important way to achieve the goal of "peak carbon neutrality" and are of great significance to China's international commitments. Based on a sample of 282 prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2020, this paper investigates the impact of low-carbon pilot policies on urban carbon efficiency using a quasi-natural experiment with three batches of low-carbon pilot cities in 2010, 2012, and 2017, respectively. It is found that: (1) low-carbon pilot cities can improve urban carbon emission efficiency, which is still valid after a series of robustness tests such as the parallel trend test, placebo test, PSM-DID, and counterfactual test; (2) low-carbon pilot cities can enhance urban carbon emission efficiency by promoting the level of urban innovation and advanced urban industrial structure; and (3) the impact of low-carbon pilot policies on urban carbon emission efficiency is heterogeneous across cities with different geographical locations, population sizes, and resource endowment types. The findings provide policy insights for the promotion of low-carbon pilot policies and strengthening the construction of low-carbon pilot cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of the paper is to investigate the relationship between technological innovation and income inequality for China based on the financial Kuznets curve (FKC) hypothesis. The study uses time-series data from 1985 to 2019. We employ the Johansen cointegration, ARDL model and VECM Granger causality techniques to analyze the links between the variables. We also use the DOLS, FMOLS and CCR mechanisms to estimate the long-run parameters. The paper finds that the FKC is valid for China's economy in the long run. Technological innovation positively affects the urban-rural income gap, while there is an inverted-U shaped between financial development and the urban-rural income gap. The relationship between financial development and the urban-rural income gap is bi-directional causality. Technological innovation and the urban-rural income gap cause each other. Empirical results suggest a twofold policy meaning: i) to further the financial system and ii) to eliminate the adverse impacts of technological innovations on income distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing attention of the capital market to environmental, social and governance information, sustainability reporting has become an important carrier for stakeholders to gain insight into sustainability of companies. But the emerged "greenwashing" problem has also brought haze to the value creation of capital market. To study the consequences of the pseudo-social responsibility behavior of "greenwashing", this paper takes China's listed companies as the research sample to empirically examine the relationship between sustainability reporting "greenwashing" and "shared value" creation. It is found that the "greenwashing" behavior of corporate sustainability reporting significantly reduces the "shared value" creation, while the degree of sustainability information asymmetry and the quality of information disclosure play a partial mediation role between them. Further analysis shows that the more effective internal control of a company and the greater pressure of external media supervision, the more conducive to weaken the negative impact of "greenwashing" on "shared value" creation. This paper enriches the literature on the economic consequences of "greenwashing" in sustainability disclosure and the influencing factors of "shared value" creation, extends the research on information disclosure and "shared value" from financial information to non-financial information. The results call for the state to promote legislative work, formulate unified standards and compress the "greenwashing" gray space; Governments could implement mandatory disclosure, implement independent authentication and strengthen "greenwashing" social supervision; Companies should strengthen capacity building and improve the "greenwashing" governance mechanism with the help of digital empowerment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking 30 provinces in China from 2011 to 2020 as a research sample, this paper empirically tests the impact of digital village construction on carbon emissions. This study found that there is an "inverted U" curve relationship between digital rural construction and rural carbon emissions. Agricultural planting structure and agricultural technology efficiency are important ways for digital village construction to reduce agricultural carbon emissions. The study also found that the higher the level of economic development, the stronger the carbon emission reduction effect of digital village construction. In addition, there are also significant differences in the carbon emission reduction effect of digital village construction in regions with different environmental regulation intensities. Finally, in terms of the relationship between digital economic activities and carbon emission reduction, the research conclusions of this paper have important implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The paper established indexes of coordination efficiency, the theoretical framework and operation mechanism of emergency information sharing for coastal cities of China. Method: First of all, we analyzed the operational relationship between the participants of emergency information sharing and information transmission, and based on the collaborative theory, constructed the emergency information sharing framework and operational mechanism suitable for the actual disaster prevention and reduction of coastal cities. Around the 3 dimensions of emergency information sharing mechanism construction, resource guarantee ability and collaborative driving force of emergency information sharing, the paper proposed the evaluation index system and the evaluation method. Results: The empirical results showed that the efficiency of emergency information sharing in coastal cities in China was generally low, and the contribution rate of the construction level of emergency information sharing mechanism is higher than that of the resource guarantee ability and the collaborative driving force of emergency information sharing, but the efficiency of emergency information sharing in coastal cities in China was still at the bottom level. Conclusion: The research results provided theoretical basis and methods for the emergency management departments of coastal cities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, digital finance has become a crucial part of the financial system and reshaped the mode of green finance in China. Digital finance has brought certain impact on economic growth, industrial structure, and resident income, which may affect pollution. The nexus of digital finance and environment in China is thus worth exploring. By revising the traditional Environmental Kuznets Curve model with income inequality variable, this paper decomposes the environmental effects of economic activities into income growth effect, industrial structure effect and income inequality effect, and use panel data of China's provinces to conduct an empirical analysis. The results reveal the following: (1) the Environmental Kuznets Curve is still valid in sample, and digital finance can reduce air and water pollution (as measured through SO2 and COD emission) directly; (2) in the influence mechanism, digital finance can alleviate income inequality and promote green industrial structure, thus reducing pollution indirectly, but the scale effect of income growth outweighs the technological effect, which increases pollution indirectly; and (3) digital finance has a threshold effect on improving the environment, then an acceleration effect appears after a certain threshold value. From the regional perspective, digital finance development in eastern regions is generally ahead of central and western regions, and the effects of environmental improvement in the eastern regions are greater. According to the study, this paper suggest that digital finance can be an effective way to promote social sustainability by alleviating income inequality and environmental sustainability by reducing pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the agriculture trade dynamic between India and China from 2002–2021. It employed the Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA) and Revealed Symmetric Comparative Advantage (RSCA) indices and various statistical analyses to assess the trade performance and provide an enhanced comprehension of the specialization pattern. The study has selected 45 agricultural commodities, categorized into seven sections according to the HS Nomenclature 2017. The findings revealed that India boasts a more diversified export portfolio compared to China, with a more significant number of agriculture chapters demonstrating a comparative advantage. Conversely, China's export basket is more concentrated, featuring fewer chapters with a comparative advantage but higher values of RCA and RSCA. The paper also identified the prospective areas for agriculture-trade cooperation and collaboration between the two countries and put forward recommendations. This research aims to offer valuable insights for policymakers, researchers, and traders to enhance bilateral ties and mutual benefits in the agriculture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the survey data of 936 rural households in Jiangsu Province, China in 2020, this paper empirically tests the influence mechanism of internet use on the rural residents' consumption level by constructing the theoretical analysis framework of "internet use—consumption literacy—rural residents consumption level" and taking consumption literacy as the mediator variable. The results demonstrate that, with other conditions unchanged, internet use has significantly improved the consumption level of rural residents. The mediating effect of the consumption literacy accounts for 15.08% among the entire effect of internet use on the rural residents' consumption level. Therefore, when applying digital information technology to improve the consumption level of rural residents in future, we should not only continue to increase investment in the construction of communication infrastructure in rural areas, but also continuously improve the consumption literacy of rural residents through building a multi-level complementary consumption education system and expanding the ways of consumption education and training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unprecedented expansion and development of high-speed rail (HSR) in China provides a unique opportunity and a new way of thinking for addressing the problem of urban-rural wealth disparities. In this paper, I examine the impact of the introduction of HSRs on the income disparity between urban and rural residents in China. Using panel data from 285 prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2018, in this paper I employ the double-difference method to assess the impact of HSR on the income gap between urban and rural populations and the mechanism of its action; furthermore, I explore the influence of HSR on urban residents' per capita disposable income and rural residents' per capita net income, as well as the impact of HSR on the flow of elements such as labor and capital. My research findings reveal that the introduction of HSR has greatly widened the income gap between urban and rural residents; however, there is heterogeneity between different East, Central, and West regions, as well as between different levels of cities. A further mechanism study finds that HSR lowers farmers' per capita net income, raises urban residents' per capita disposable income, and widens the urban/rural income gap via mechanisms such as facilitating the interregional mobility of labor and capital factors. Therefore, it is necessary to comprehensively assess the economic effects brought about by HSR, strengthen the construction of urban-rural transport networks, and improve support for rural areas, so as to promote the coordinated development of inter-regional and urban-rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the role played by the digitization level of inclusive finance for the aging population. We leverage an unexpected Chinese national strategy that promotes mobile internet and other internet related integration in China to identify the impact of changes in state policies on the digitization level for inclusive finance in a regression discontinuity design. Although aging population is negatively correlated with the digitization level of inclusive finance, our empirical analysis reveals that the policy shock significantly increased the digitization level of inclusive finance among the aging population. We also find two opposite mechanisms: the income effect and the caring effect. Finally, our study suggests that the economic and social outcomes of the digitization level among aging population are bifurcated: happiness decreased but real estate investment increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cash holding is an important strategic decision of enterprises. As a macro-level factor, economic policy uncertainty causes risks, affecting enterprises' cash holdings. Taking the quarterly financial data of China's A-share non-financial listed firms for 2010–2020 as a sample, this study adopts the OLS and fixed effect models to investigate how corporate cash holdings are affected by economic policy uncertainty. The findings indicate that economic policy uncertainty is directly proportional to the level of cash that listed corporations hold. The higher the uncertainty, the more cash the company holds. Among them, state-owned enterprises and the manufacturing industry are more significantly affected by economic policy uncertainty. Finally, considering the regional marketization level and the differences in financing constraints enterprises face, it is concluded through grouping empirical studies that enterprises located in regions with lower marketization levels are more susceptible to policy uncertainty, while financially constrained enterprises are more susceptible to economic policy uncertainty. The study of economic policy uncertainty is helpful to guide enterprises to realize the importance of coping strategies in advance under the background of intensifying economic policy uncertainty. Therefore, this paper proposes to introduce policies on the premise of fully considering the smoothness of the economy and the differences in the conditions of firms of different natures, as well as some proposals to alleviate financing constraints, reduce the adverse effects of uncertainty on firms, and bolster the marketization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to effectively reduce CO2 emissions by examining the impact of three distinct incentive and constraint policies on the quality of rating and certification information in China's green bond issuance market. To accomplish this, the government has implemented incentives, while regulators have introduced constraints to curb the spread of inflated rating and certification information. We build on the integrated rating and certification regulation mechanism by presenting a two-stage Stackelberg game model that involves four key participants: the China Securities Regulatory Commission, local governments, green evaluation and certification agencies, and credit rating agencies. We incorporate environmental effects indicators into the expected utility of rating and certification agencies to investigate the equilibrium conditions under three policy scenarios: a single financial incentive policy, a single regulatory constraint policy, and a combined incentive and constraint policy. The paper employs Stackelberg game theory to analyze how different policies mitigate the occurrence of "inflated" ratings and "greenwashing" in certifications. Numerical analysis is conducted to validate the theoretical findings. Moreover, we assess the impact of these policies on the quality of rating and evaluation information, using data from China's green bond issuance market between 2016 and 2021. Our research offers valuable management insights and regulatory recommendations for both regulators and local governments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the level of coupling coordination between the digital economy (DIE) and carbon emission efficiency (CEE) is not only an inevitable choice for achieving the goals of energy conservation and emission reduction and promoting green development in China, but also a key path to implementing China's "Double Carbon" strategy. Based on the relevant statistical data of 30 provincial-level regions in China from the period covering 2011 to 2019, this paper empirically analyzed the coupling coordination between the DIE and CEE and its influencing factors. In this study, an improved coupling coordination degree (CCD) model was used to evaluate the degree of the coupling and coordinated development of the DIE and CEE in provincial regions of China. Finally, based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) method was employed to identify the realization path of the coupling and coordinated development of the DIE and CEE from the perspective of configuration. The results demonstrated that the coupling coordination between the DIE and CCE in China demonstrated a gradual upward trend, and exhibited regional differences, showing a decreasing trend of east > middle > west. Regarding the influencing factors, no single influencing factor could act as a necessary condition for the high CCD, the coupling and coordinated development of the DIE and CEE is a multifactorial synergy. There were five paths for the high degree of coupling coordination between the DIE and CEE, which were divided into three types: organization-environment-led type, environment-led type, and technology-organization-led type. Furthermore, technological innovation level and industrial structure could substitute for one another in some conditions, and environmental regulation and economic development level were synchronized. These conclusions provide a theoretical basis for countries to formulate policies to promote the coupling and coordinated development of their DIE and CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public procurement is an important bridge between public demand and market supply and may affect corporate behavior. However, in the advocacy of sustainable development, the extant research has rarely combined sustainable public procurement (SPP) with corporate ESG performance, to explore whether governments have contributed to the development of sustainable corporate performance through their sustainable procurement activities. This paper fills in the gap by matching the actual implementation of SPP of 42,369 projects in China over 2015~2020 with 20,125 corporate ESG performance data, to analyze the relationship between SPP implementation and corporate ESG performance. The results show that the implementation of SPP has a significant positive impact on corporate ESG performance. Further heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact is stronger in China's eastern and central regions than in other regions, and corporates at a mature stage are more likely to follow the government sustainable behavior. In addition, the implementation of SPP has a long-term effect on corporate ESG performance. The above findings have important policy implications: firstly, there is a better role for government to play as the "invisible hand", to participate in the market economy; Specifically, SPP policy should be added to government policy tool box to improve corporate ESG performance in addition to disclosure requirement, and the SPP policy employed should in particular attend to the "missing sectors" of sustainability in SPP for the good of corporate ESG; secondly, the government should implement differentiated policies tailored to the region's economic development conditions and corporate development characteristics; thirdly, a long-term evaluation mechanism should be established so that the government can play a more long-term demonstration and leading role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous promotion of China's innovation-driven development strategy, the role of technological innovation on economic development has become increasingly important. In this context, the support of R&D capital investment for technological innovation also becomes non-negligible. This leads to the question of whether the allocation of R&D capital is reasonable and whether there is room for further improvement. This paper is based on inter-provincial panel data from 2009 to 2020, which are classified based on China's National Bureau of Statistics for R&D funding sources in high-tech industries and incorporated into an overall discussion framework. Using STATA16 statistical software, the R&D innovation output of high-tech industries is inves-tigated by building a PVAR model with the perspective of funding sources of R&D input intensity. The study results show that (1) the increase in the intensity of enterprises' own capital investment has a positive impact on innovation output because it can generate a financial "reservoir" effect to support technological innovation. (2) the increase in the intensity of government capital invest-ment has a positive impact on innovation output because it can alleviate the loss of income of en-terprises due to "R&D spillover" and will send a positive signal to the market. (3) the foreign in-vestment intensity has a positive impact on the innovation output of enterprises due to the com-bined effect of "spillover effect" and "crowding out effect". (4) the increase of other capital in-vestment intensity also has a neutral effect on the increase of innovation output under the current financial market environment. Finally, based on the above findings, corresponding policy impli-cations are drawn. This study will help to improve the understanding of R&D capital allocation imbalance and R&D input and output issues in developing countries and provide a reference for policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of green finance and the promotion of green transformation and upgrading of high energy-consuming enterprises are of great significance for China to achieve the "double carbon" goal. This paper employs a dual fixed-effects model to examine the profound ramifications and intrinsic mechanisms of green finance development on the transformative innovation of high-energy-consumption enterprises, using a sample of 462 publicly traded high-energy-consuming corporations from the period spanning 2016 to 2020. The results show that the development of green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of energy-intensive enterprises and that market-incentivized environmental regulation plays a partially mediating role; the results of heterogeneity analysis show that green finance promotes the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises with significant differences in different low-carbon pilot regions, company ownership, and enterprise size; the mechanism analysis shows that the development of green finance can increase government subsidies and alleviate financing constraints to promote the transformation and innovation of high energy-consuming enterprises; it is also found that the development of green finance can significantly improve the financial performance of enterprises. The research findings of this paper hold significant implications for promoting the sustainable development of green finance and high-energy consumption enterprises in China. They provide valuable insights and references for facilitating the green transformation and innovation of high-energy-consuming enterprises in China as well as other developing countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relative age effect (RAE) has been the subject of many studies, but no relevant literature has discussed the phenomenon of RAE in Chinese tennis. Numerous studies have demonstrated that RAE significantly contributes to brain drain and other occurrences that create inequity. This paper analyzes the birth dates and year-end rankings of all male players (N = 2697) who participated in China's junior tennis tournaments (U12, U14, U16) between 2014 and 2019 and who were selected for China's National Junior Team in 2019 and 2020; the paper classifies the birth dates into quarters and semesters. One of the research objectives of this study is to analyze whether RAE exists in Chinese junior men's tennis and whether RAE exerts an effect on athletes' performance. Differences between the observed and expected birthdate distributions were tested using chi-square statistics, and subsequent calculations were tested using odds ratios. The study found that RAE was present in all Chinese junior male tennis sports groups (p<0.001). The percentages of athletes born in the first half of the year were 56.4% (U12), 60.4% (U14), and 60.4% (U16), and the percentages of those born in the first quarter were 34.1% (U12), 36.4% (U14), and 37.1% (U16). Athletes with birth dates closer to the beginning of the year had a higher probability of achieving excellent athletic performance as a result of RAE, whereas those who were born near the end of the year had a more difficult time achieving strong athletic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the data of 278 prefecture-level city panels in China from 2008 to 2020, this paper presents the policy of innovative pilot city as a quasi-natural experiment. It is found that (1) the implementation of innovative urban policy can significantly improve the level of science and technology entrepreneurship, but the pilot policy has a time lag effect and has a continuous promoting effect since the third year. (2) For large cities, areas with high levels of economic development, central and eastern regions and cities with high new infrastructure, innovative cities can improve the level of technological entrepreneurship; (3) Innovative cities improve the level of technological entrepreneurship by improving the incubator of technological enterprises and strengthening the flow of human capital; (4) The effect of the establishment of innovative cities on the level of technological entrepreneurship mainly shows that the siphon effect does not show radiation effect, and this siphon effect mainly improves the level of technological entrepreneurship by increasing the number of incubators of technological enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green agriculture can minimize the negative impact of agriculture on the environment. As countries around the world strongly advocate green production and green life style, not only is consumers' awareness about green consumption rising, but the demand for green agricultural products at home and abroad is gradually increasing as well. Brand image has been a crucial factor for consumers to make their final purchasing decisions, thus playing a critical role in influencing the purchasing decisions of consumers. Based on the theory of the brand image, this paper undergoes a comprehensive theoretical and positive analysis and explores the influence mechanism of brand image of green agricultural products on consumers' purchasing intention. A hypothetical model with perceived value as mediators is constructed by us to examine the influence of brand image of green agricultural products on consumers' purchasing intention. A quantitative study was conducted for a random sample of 341 consumers who purchased green agricultural products in China according to a questionnaire-based survey using a cluster random sampling technique. The study showed that the overall image of agribusiness, the image of agricultural products, the social image of agribusiness, and the image of consumers are all positively related to consumption intention. The overall image of agribusiness, the image of agricultural products, the social image of agribusiness, and the image of consumers have a positive influence on perceived value. Moreover, perceived value plays a part in the mediating role in the influence of the overall image of agribusiness, the image of agricultural products, the social image of agribusiness, and the image of consumers on consumption intention. These findings shed lights on enterprises in establishing a scientific and effective brand strategy and building an excellent brand image. The research conclusion can provide new insight into how to enhance the consumption willingness for green agricultural products and promote sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we take the Yangtze River Economic Belt as the study area and analyze three types of environmental regulation tools, namely, command-and-control (CAC), market-incentivized (MI) and public-type (PT). We apply the threshold effect to test the impact of each of these tools on regional economic growth and analyze the relationships between the tools and environmental regulation. The entropy method is used to calculate the comprehensive environmental pollution index of each province and city in the Yangtze River Economic Belt. Using Stata 14.0 measurement software and based on provincial data with respect to the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2014 to 2021, a panel threshold model is used to test the impact of the three types of environmental regulation tools on regional economic growth and analyze the relationship between environmental regulation and regional economic growth. It is found that the relationship between environmental regulation and economic growth is non-linear. There is no significant relationship between CAC environmental regulation and regional economic growth; there is a single threshold effect between market-incentive environmental regulation and public participation environmental regulation on the economic growth of the Yangtze River economic belt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of globalization has separated the production and consumption of products spatially, and the international trade of products has become a carrier of embodied carbon trade. This paper adopted the perspective of value-added trade to calculate the amount of embodied carbon trade of China from 2006 to 2015 and perform a structural decomposition analysis of the changes in China's embodied carbon trade. This study found that: (1) China's embodied carbon exports are much larger than its embodied carbon imports, and there are differences between countries. China imported the largest amount of embodied carbon from South Korea, and it exported the largest amount of embodied carbon to the United States. (2) The structural decomposition analysis shows that changes in the value-added carbon emission coefficient during the study period would have caused China's embodied carbon trade to decrease, and changes in value-added trade would have caused China's embodied carbon trade to increase. Therefore, countries trading with China need to strengthen their cooperation with China in energy conservation, emission reduction, and product trade. In order to accurately reflect China's embodied carbon trade, it is necessary to calculate embodied carbon trade from the perspective of value-added trade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically studies the relationship among inclusive finance, industrial structure upgrading and farmers' income, using the panel data of 28 provinces in China from 2006 to 2016.The research finds that inclusive finance can significantly promote the increase of farmers' income. Moreover, the Upgrading of Industry Structure (UIS) is the intermediary mechanism of inclusive finance to promote the increase of farmers' income, and this intermediary mechanism is heterogeneous among farmers with different income levels. Finally, the promotion effect of the UIS on farmers' income is affected by the threshold effect of inclusive finance. Compared with the development level of low inclusive finance, the promotion effect of the UIS on farmers' income is stronger under the development level of high inclusive finance. According to the results of empirical analysis, we suggest that the development strategy of inclusive finance should aim at the industrial development in rural areas, promote the organic connection between farmers and modern agricultural industry, and drive farmers to increase their income through the transformation and upgrading of rural industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is a serious cardiovascular disease that can lead to cardiac arrest if not diagnosed promptly. However, in the actual diagnosis and treatment of ACS, there will be a large number of redundant related features that interfere with the judgment of professionals. Further, existing methods have difficulty identifying high-quality ACS features from these data, and the interpretability work is insufficient. In response to this problem, this paper uses a hybrid feature selection method based on gradient boosting trees and recursive feature elimination with cross-validation (RFECV) to reduce ACS feature redundancy and uses interpretable feature learning for feature selection to retain the most discriminative features. While reducing the feature set search space, this method can balance model simplicity and learning performance to select the best feature subset. We leverage the interpretability of gradient boosting trees to aid in understanding key features of ACS, linking the eigenvalue meaning of instances to model risk predictions to provide interpretability for the classifier. The data set used in this paper is patient records after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in a tertiary hospital in Fujian Province, China from 2016 to 2021. In this paper, we experimentally explored the impact of our method on ACS risk prediction. We extracted 25 key variables from 430 complex ACS medical features, with a feature reduction rate of 94.19%, and identified 5 key ACS factors. Compared with different baseline methods (Logistic Regression, Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Extreme Gradient Boosting, Multilayer Perceptron, and 1D Convolutional Networks), the results show that our method achieves the highest Accuracy of 98.8%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]