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The global digitization trend provides a favorable development environment for the efficient acquisition of knowledge and technology. However, restrictions imposed by countries on digital trade have hindered this trend. This study is based on 60 sample countries to study the impact of the digital trade barrier (DTB) on the technology innovation efficiency (TIE) of each country and the pathways from 2014 to 2020. Research finds that DTB significantly inhibits TIE. Among the five different policy fields that form DTB, Infrastructure and Connecting DTB and Other DTB have the greatest negative impact on TIE. A mechanism analysis found that DTB increases the difficulty of acquiring knowledge spillover and the high cost of research and development, leading to the mismatch and low efficiency of innovation resources, ultimately leading to a reduction in technological innovation efficiency in various countries. Participating in international technological innovation networks and improving technological innovation capabilities have a moderating effect on the aforementioned negative impacts that is beneficial for the sustainable development of national technological innovation. Heterogeneity tests indicate that countries with weaker innovation capabilities, low- and middle-income countries, and countries that have not joined the OECD have a more significant negative impact. This study serves as an important reference for the government to adjust digital trade policies and guide the effective use of external resources for sustainable and efficient technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-scale urban innovation networks are important channels for intra- and inter-city knowledge spillovers and play an important role in urban industrial innovation and growth. However, there is a lack of direct evidence on the impact of multi-scale urban innovation networks on industrial development. Drawing upon the "buzz-and-pipeline" model, this paper analyzes the impact of multi-scale urban innovation networks on industrial development by taking the automobile manufacturing industry in China's five urban agglomerations as an example. Firstly, based on the Form of Correlation between International Patent Classification and Industrial Classification for National Economic Activities (2018) and co-patents, we construct urban innovation networks on three different geographical scales, including intra-city innovation networks, inter-city innovation networks within urban agglomerations, and innovation networks between cities within and beyond urban agglomerations. Then, we employ the ordinary least squares model with fixed effects at the urban agglomeration level to explore the impact of urban multi-scale knowledge linkages on the development of the automobile manufacturing industry and the results showed that urban innovation networks at three different geographical scales have different impacts on industrial development. Specifically, intra-city innovation networks have a facilitating effect on industrial development, while both inter-city innovation networks within urban agglomerations and innovation networks between cities within and beyond urban agglomerations have an inverted U-shaped impact on industrial development. The interactions between urban innovation networks on three different geographical scales have a negative effect on industrial development. Simultaneously, the agglomeration level of urban industry plays a positive moderating role in the impacts of multi-scale urban innovation networks on industrial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Relying on high penetration and strong diffusion capabilities, the digital economy is becoming a new driving force for industrial integration and development. It is of great significance to promote the coordinated development of manufacturing and producer services. This paper took panel data on 286 prefecture-level cities and above in China from 2011 to 2019 as its research object, and used the two-way fixed effect model, threshold effect model, and the Spatial Durbin Model (SDM) as its econometric testing methods. This analysis explored the impact of the digital economy on the synergetic agglomeration between manufacturing and productive service industries in China. The results of the research showed that the synergetic agglomeration of industries is significantly promoted by the digital economy. This conclusion was still valid after an endogeneity test was carried out. The digital economy's role was found to mainly involve promoting knowledge spillovers and expanding the market size. An in-depth analysis of the digital economy has enabled the collaborative agglomeration of manufacturing and producer services in large, medium-sized, and small cities. The digital economy had the greatest effect on small cities, followed by medium-sized cities and large cities. The synergetic aggregation between the manufacturing and high-end producer services industries is significantly promoted by the digital economy. However, it was not found to have had a significant effect on the synergetic agglomeration between the manufacturing and low-end producer services industries. The impact of the digital economy on industrial collaborative agglomeration is nonlinear. Only when the level of the digital economy exceeds the threshold can the promoting effect of the digital economy on industrial collaborative agglomeration be manifested. In summary, the development of the digital economy was found to have promoted industrial collaboration and agglomeration in the study areas and their neighboring regions in the study period. The research results of this article are of great significance for achieving the goal of the "two-wheel drive" of the manufacturing and producer services industries, as well as high-quality economic development in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The technological effects of innovative regions on lagging regions' labor markets have not been yet well understood, especially in the urban–rural context. I introduce a theoretical model that yields insight into the interactions between high-technology and lagging regions. While, through knowledge spillovers, urban technology can increase rural jobs, it can also reduce rural employment by raising the competitive advantage of urban firms over rural firms in product market competition. Progress in urban technology also exerts an ambiguous effect of a brain drain on the rural labor market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green energy technology innovation (GETI) is a crucial path to achieve sustainable development. However, few studies have examined the determinants of GETI, especially from the perspective of environmental regulation. To fill this gap, this study investigates the impact of environmental regulation on GETI using the panel data of 30 provinces in Mainland China from 2001 to 2018. We first measure GETI by the latest IPC codes and patent data, and then adopt a dynamic spatial Durbin model (DSDM) to examine the relationship between environmental regulation and GETI. The main conclusions are summarized as follows: (1) There is a significant inverted U-shaped relationship between environmental regulation and GETI; (2) heterogeneity analysis shows that the inverted U-shaped correlation not only exists between environmental regulations and different types of GETI, but also exists between environmental regulations and GETI in different regions. Moreover, the results also show that the spatial spillover effect and path-dependent effect exist in all cases. The findings can provide reference for policymakers to formulate more precise environmental policies. That is, environmental policies in a province should be formulated based on its position on the inverted U-shaped curve. More specifically, when it is on the left side of the inflection point, it is reasonable to strengthen environmental policies, and when it is on the right side of the inflection point, appropriate relaxation of environmental policies should be considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do labor mobility and co-worker networks contribute to convergence or divergence between regions? Based on the previous literature, labor mobility contributes to knowledge transfer between firms. Therefore, mobility may contribute to decreasing productivity differences, while limited mobility sustains higher differences. The effect of co-worker networks, however, can be two-fold in this process; they transmit information about potential jobs, which may enhance the mobility of workers—even between regions—and this enhanced mobility may contribute to levelling of differences. However, if mobility between regions involves movement costs, co-worker networks may concentrate locally—possibly contributing to the persistence of regional differences. In this paper, we build an agent-based model of labor mobility across firms and regions with knowledge spillovers that reflects key empirical observations on labor markets. We analyze the impact of network information provided about potential employers in this model and find that it contributes to increasing inter-regional mobility, and subsequently, to decreasing regional differences. We also find that both the density of coworker networks, as well as their regional concentrations, decrease if network information is available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to establish if Marshallian and Jacobian knowledge spillovers affect job creation in the green energy sector. Whether these two effects exist is important for the number of jobs created in related fields and jobs pushed away in other sectors. In the analysis, the production efficiency, in terms of jobs and job spillovers, from inventions in solar, wind and energy efficiency, is explored through data envelopment analysis (DEA), based on the Malmquist productivity index, and tobit regression. A panel dataset of American and European firms over the period of 2002–2017 is used. The contribution to the literature is to show the role of the spillovers from the same technology sector (Marshallian externalities), and of the spillovers from more diversified activity (Jacobian externalities). Since previous empirical evidence concerning the innovation effects on the production efficiency is yet weak, the paper attempts to bridge this gap. The empirical findings suggest negative Marshallian externalities, while Jacobian externalities have no statistical impact on the job creation process. The findings are of strategic importance for governments who are developing industrial strategies for renewable energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]