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This paper assesses the robustness of the "natalist bias" of pollution control in de la Croix and Gosseries (J Environ Econ Manage 63:271–287, 2012), according to which taxing emissions encourage agents to shift from production to procreation, further deteriorating the environment and gradually impoverishing the next generations. We relax the assumptions that human capital does not depend on environmental quality and that society does not allocate resources to pollution control. Using a similar Overlapping Generations (OLG) growth model, our findings indicate that taxation does not necessarily encourage agents to permanently shift away from production because living under better environmental conditions enhances productivity through human capital formation. As the government increases the emissions price, agents reduce consumption and education spending, hurting output in the short term. However, in the long run, the reduction in emissions that follows taxation more than compensates for the initial adverse effects, provided that the sensitivity of human capital accumulation to environmental degradation is strong enough. Furthermore, as we increase the coefficient capturing such pollution externality, a Neimark–Sacker bifurcation occurs, making the system compatible with persistent endogenous fluctuations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creative cities are known as places for innovation and the growth of creativity, and in fact, the creative city is a favourable environment for training human creativity and attracting the creative class, providing an appropriate foundation for educating its residents' creativity. The aim of this study was to determine the extent to which Tehran's neighbourhoods have the characteristics of a creative city. The descriptive-analytical research method was used for this purpose. Documents are used to collect data in four dimensions: quality of life, human capital, social capital, and innovation. The statistical population of the study was the 22 districts of Tehran, and the research indicators included 28 indicators of the creative city in the form of 7 general dimensions. The data analysis method used was quantitative–qualitative. Using the multi-indicator ELECTRE-II method for ranking areas based on creative city indicators, districts 1 and 6 in Tehran are ranked first, and districts 17, 16, 10, and 9 are ranked last in terms of creativity. Finally, Tehran has the potential to become a creative city, but this requires the removal of existing flaws and obstacles, as well as well-codified and legal planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital development is considered the primary source of knowledge and skills in the innovation process. Despite this, there is evidence of a lack of technical and managerial knowledge among emerging sugarcane farmers who are beneficiaries of South Africa’s land reform programme, thus, limiting their full potential in terms of innovation and productivity which is detrimental to their competitiveness. This paper employs the Crépon, Duguet, and Mairesse (CDM) approach, correcting for endogeneity problems, to estimate the causal impact of on-the-job training expenditure, used as a proxy for human capital development, on innovation, and innovation on farm productivity. It is based on a case study of 35 emerging sugarcane farmers in the KwaZulu-Natal north coast, South Africa. The results from the CDM model confirm the causal relationships between human capital (on-the-job training) and the innovation behaviour of the farmers, which positively impact the farm’s productivity. This result underscores the relevance of human capital development in boosting innovation and productivity in the agricultural sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the development of four narratives of financial assistance for Australian university students – to encourage excellence; to meet public need; to build the stock of human capital; and as universal provision – and their effect on the development of a fifth narrative, centred on the Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS). Financial support schemes have been provided by governments, industry, philanthropic and religious groups, or a combination of these. These narratives reflect deep-seated ideas about the meaning and value of education, and the emphasis placed on public or private benefits. This article shows how these narratives have affected access to university and who has attended. It shows the influence of student support schemes in shaping higher education in Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing agricultural productivity in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs) is an important channel for reducing poverty and food insecurity. Information and communication technologies (ICT) have the potential to boost agricultural productivity by lowering transaction costs and enhancing access to information. Even though there are several micro‐level studies analysing the effects of ICT on agricultural productivity, there is scant research addressing the role of ICT in agricultural productivity at the global and regional levels. Using data from 86 countries for the period 2000 to 2019 and utilising a fixed effect panel regression with a feasible generalised least square approach, we find that globally there is a positive and significant association between ICT uptake and both land and labour productivity in agriculture. In each case, however, the magnitude of the effect is much smaller than other important determinants, such as human capital, access to inputs or environmental factors. At the regional level, the relationship between ICT uptake and land productivity is not significant in Africa and Asia, while we find a significant effect on labour productivity. This finding indicates that while ICT can provide valuable information and tools for land management, the effect on land productivity might be less immediate in these regions. Finally, we revisit the question of whether ICT expansion increases agricultural productivity gaps between high‐income nations and LMICs. In contrast to previous research, this study does not find significant differences in the effects of ICT on land and labour productivity between higher‐income and lower‐income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Some theories suggest that ethnic minority students who anticipate discrimination in the labour market may invest more in easily observable human capital, such as education, to signal their productivity to employers. Empirical research has been hampered, however, by a lack of direct information on anticipated labour market treatment. We link ethnic minority student expectations of facing discrimination in the labour market to subsequent performance in high-stakes certificated national exams in England. Our findings suggest that anticipating labour market discrimination is associated with better exam performance, consistent with the view that students are seeking to counteract potential future penalties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indoor air pollution (IAP) resulting from firewood used as cooking fuel is related to the respiratory problems and can lead to the reduction in human capital formation. Using data from the fourth Cameroonian survey of households carried out in 2014, we analyse if exposure to indoor air pollution resulting from the use of firewood provokes respiratory infections and if they have consequences on the education of children according to gender. Our results show that the use of firewood as the main fuel for cooking increases the risk of respiratory infection among girls (but not among boys) and these infections have a negative impact on education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concern that over-depleting natural resources (NAT) may somehow be costly for environmental quality is a recurrent topic in empirical analysis. However, the literature has predominantly focused on studying the effects of increases in NAT use on the environment, ignoring potential non-linear interactions. The current study seeks to expand the previous literature by examining the non-linear environmental ramifications of NAT in Russia, home to one of the world's richest natural resource reserves. In this regard, adopting the load capacity factor (LCF) as an environmental indicator, the study examines how the positive and negative changes in NAT affect the country's environmental well-being within the framework of the N-ARDL model for 1992–2021. This study uses artificial intelligence unit root and asymmetric Fourier causality approach for robustness analysis. Empirical evidence suggests that positive shocks to NAT have a deleterious influence on the LCF, while negative changes in NAT contribute to environmental well-being. Nonetheless, the long-term influence of a unit positive shock in NAT decreases the LCF by a greater amount than a unit negative shock increases it. The results also demonstrate a 'U-shaped' connection between income growth and ecological well-being, confirming the validity of the LCC hypothesis. Furthermore, the outcomes reveal that renewable energy consumption and human capital upgrade environmental quality. Therefore, Russian policymakers should focus on the SDG 7, 12, and 13 targets, which refer to substantially increasing the quality of primary and secondary education, the share of green energy in the total energy mix, and effective resource management and utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The gap in demand and supply of energy across Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries has increased energy insecurity in the region. Therefore, power outages have become pervasive, causing unemployment and a decline in production output. Among the several energy-saving factors identified in the literature across developing economies, technological spillover driven by trade openness appears to be a prominent factor in improving energy efficiency. Thus, this study evaluates the impact of machinery imported from OECD and non-OECD countries and its corresponding research and development (R&D) spillover on energy efficiency performance in 18 SSA countries from 1995 to 2017. Using a stochastic energy distance function, we discover that aggregated data from OECD and non-OECD countries have no significant effect on energy efficiency performance across SSA countries. However, results from disaggregated data for OECD and non-OECD machinery imports show that OECD machinery imports improve energy efficiency contrary to non-OECD imports. Thus, technology spillover from OECD countries is advantageous for SSA countries to reduce long-term energy-based emissions. Furthermore, our results show that human capital has no significant effect on SSA energy efficiency. Consequently, the results possess some policy implications; for instance, policymakers responsible for promoting science and technology could increase investment in human capital development by developing technology and engineering expertise and increasing GDP allocation to R&D activities. For energy efficiency scores, we observe substantial differences in efficiency across SSA countries – implying potential improvements in energy efficiency across SSA countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We build an endogenous growth model featuring a new mode of human capital accumulation in a data economy. Data are generated as the byproducts of economic activities and then used by consumers for human capital accumulation apart from education. Although we find similar growth patterns compared with those in the related literature, economic growth is further accelerated by the new use of data factor. Quantitative analyses suggest that although the accumulation of human capital is promoted by the increasing importance of data, this promotion is not unlimited since data may over-absorb resources and crowd out education. In the transition dynamics, we see that consumers suffer temporary welfare loss. However, as data become a key factor in human capital accumulation, welfare ultimately increases. Our paper provides a first view of the effect of the data factor in the process of human capital accumulation. • Digital economy promotes economic growth through human capital accumulation. • A model is built to incorporate data into human capital accumulation. • The promotion effect of data on human capital accumulation is not unlimited. • In transition dynamics, consumers may face temporary welfare loss. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Army has made insufficient progress in arming its officers with science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and management (STEM+M) knowledge. The contemporary battlefield is faster paced, technologically enabled, and data driven, requiring officers to possess more skills, knowledge, and experience. We examine the Army's history with STEM education and show that, in terms of education, the current Army officer corps has fallen behind its requirements for technology-enabled forces and modern society. We conclude with recommendations on how the Army can close the STEM+M education gap through advances in higher education and adopting talent management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Firm innovation is of vital importance to New Zealand's economy, but we understand little about how different human resource (workforce) factors influence innovation approaches (product/services innovation, process innovation, and innovation speed). We explore three human resource (HR) factors: workforce knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs), workforce attraction, and workforce retention, using a sample of New Zealand private sector firms (n = 402). Regression analysis shows all HR factors are significant predictors of all innovation approaches. Further analysis shows workforce KSAs is dominant towards product/service innovation, workforce attraction is dominant towards process innovation, and workforce retention is dominant towards innovation speed. Moderating effects by firm size are found showing small-sized firms out innovate large-sized firms when workforce KSA are high, despite small-sized firms having, on average, weaker HR factors and innovation approaches than large-sized firms. We highlight the organisational implications across small – and large-sized firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to determine whether gender diverse boards enhance intellectual capital performance, which is a measure of intangible resources. We have created a framework for panel data analysis for Indian listed firms and conducted estimation using the panel fixed effects technique. We also use the system generalised method of moments technique to assess the results' robustness. The results of the study indicate that gender diversity positively influences intellectual capital. The one aspect of intellectual capital which gets positively impacted by gender diversity is the human capital coefficient. These results suggest that women directors create policies that support the development and efficient application of intellectual capital. The female board presence associated with intellectual capital is essential for firm success in the knowledge economy. The study supports the regulation to enhance women's representation on corporate boards. It also gives feedback to regulators for changing and broadening the law beyond listed firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being an agrarian economy, food insecurity is pervasive in Pakistan. This study examines the impact of multiple dimensions of household vulnerability and socio-economic resilience on food insecurity. The results of ordinary least squares and Logistic regression based on data from Pakistan Standard and Living Measurement Survey (2018–2019) and Food Insecurity Experience Scale showed that vulnerabilities like age and employment dependency, household size, and gender composition play a significant role in food insecurity. The key policy interventions that can prevent households from experiencing food insecurity would be investments in human capital, empowering women, and reduction in rural–urban disparity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effect of birth order on educational attainment in the United States and the underlying mechanism producing these effects. Using a family fixed effects model, we find negative birth order effects on educational outcomes. However, this effect varies depending on the household's income, being the strongest for households with the highest income and diminishing as households' income decreases. In addition, we show that the timing of income across childhood is important for completed education, as the largest gap in educational attainment between siblings emerges between those who were born and spent their early childhood in wealthier households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies a sample of displaced workers during the deep 1990s recession in Sweden and estimates the effect of secondary-level adult education on tertiary-level educational attainment. Plant closures and mass layoffs are used to identify job separations unrelated to individual productivity. Results indicate a large positive effect of general adult education on displaced workers' further investment in human capital by continuing on to university education. These findings offer some explanation of findings in previous research, i.e. slow recovery of post-treatment earnings among workers enrolled in adult education, with positive treatment effects on earnings emerging in the long run. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the impact of an extension of paid family leave in the Czech Republic from 3 to 4 years on children's long-term outcomes. We find that an additional year of maternal care at age 3 has an adverse effect on children's human capital investments and labor market attachment. Affected children are 6 percentage points less likely to be enrolled in college and 4 percentage points more likely to be not in education, employment, or training (NEET) at age 21–22. While the negative impact on education is persistent, with an 8 percentage points lower probability of completing college by the age of 27, the effect on NEET is short-lived. The results are driven by children of low-educated mothers, whose education and NEET outcomes are affected by as much as 12 percentage points. Our findings are consistent with previously documented positive effects of universal childcare on child long-term outcomes and with the fact that the extended maternal care induced by the extension of family leave led to a postponement of public kindergarten enrollment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the impact of comprehensive and universal early childhood development programs on educational outcomes during middle childhood. I exploit the birth eligibility cutoff of a pioneer intervention of this type in Chile and use administrative data on grade point averages and standardized test scores. Program exposure raises standardized math scores by 1.8% of a standard deviation, standardized reading scores by 4.0% of a standard deviation, and grade point averages by 0.03% of a standard deviation. I find that socioeconomically vulnerable children benefit less from program exposure. The educational marginal value of public funds indicates that the program is beneficial overall and pays for itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Few issues have attracted as much policy interest in the tertiary sector as graduate employability. Graduate employability positions universities and their students as key players in the national economy. At the same time, the standard conception of graduate employability, as it has evolved from human capital theory and modified by neoliberal ideology, has met with significant criticism. This paper reports on our analysis of the strategic plans of Australia's 42 operating universities current in 2018 to better understand (1) the extent to which employability was embedded in each university's strategic priorities and (2) the ways in which employability was characterised in those plans. Our paper provides empirical evidence of the way in which Australian universities universally and uniformly adopted a particular model of employability, simultaneously claiming its distinctiveness. Our analysis suggests the need for Australian universities to take a more thoughtful and nuanced approach to graduate employability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the problem of global warming caused by the massive emission of carbon dioxide has attracted the attention of all countries in the world. As the world's largest carbon dioxide emitter. China is under great pressure to conserve energy and reduce emissions. How to effectively control carbon dioxide emissions has become one of the important issues that needs to be solved in China's economic and social development. The digital economy is characterized by technological innovation, environmental friendliness and green development providing new opportunities for carbon emission reduction. However, the existing literature has not reached a consensus on the study of the impact of China's digital economy development on carbon emissions, and the study of the internal mechanism of China's digital economy development on carbon emissions is not deep enough, and the study of the spatial spillover effect of China's digital economy development on carbon emissions is relatively few. Based on the extended Cobb-Douglas production function, this paper analyzes the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions by using Chinese urban panel data. The results show that the development of the digital economy can significantly reduce the level of carbon emissions, and this result is still valid after a series of robustness tests. In terms of its mechanism, digital economy can reduce carbon emissions by strengthening environmental regulation, improving human capital level and promoting industrial agglomeration. After further considering the spatial correlation characteristics of the emission reduction effect of digital economy, it is found that the development of digital economy can not only promote carbon emission reduction in the region, but also help reduce carbon emissions in neighboring regions. Heterogeneity test shows that the development of digital economy significantly reduces carbon emissions in central cities and high-innovation cities, but the carbon emission reduction effect of digital economy in peripheral cities is not significant, and the development of digital economy in low- innovation cities significantly increases carbon emissions. The development of digital economy in eastern and central and western cities has significantly reduced carbon emissions, and the carbon emission reduction effect is decreasing from the central and western regions to the eastern regions. The possible marginal contributions of this paper are as follows: first, a theoretical model is built to analyze and empirically test the impact of digital economy on carbon emission by incorporating digital elements into Cobb-Douglas production function and introducing carbon emission equation, which deepens the understanding of the relationship between digital economy development and carbon emission. Second, three intermediary variables, i. e. industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation and human capital are included, which enriches the mechanism of the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions from a new perspective based on multiple paths. A multidimensional index evaluation system is constructed to measure intermediary variables, which can reflect the characteristics of intermediary variables more completely and comprehensively than a single indicator measurement. Third, two spatial weight matrices of adjacency and inverse distance were constructed, and bidirectional fixed effect spatial Durbin model was adopted to test the spatial spillover effect of digital economy development on carbon emissions from a more subtle urban scale. Three intermediary variables of industrial agglomeration, environmental regulation and human capital were included in the model successively, and the spatial spillover effect of different intermediary variables on carbon emissions was investigated. It provides an empirical basis for the national planning of carbon emission reduction policies. The research in this paper deepens the understanding of the relationship between digital economy development and carbon emission to a certain extent, reveals the internal logic of China's digital economy development affecting carbon emission, clarifies the path and method of carbon emission reduction, and provides theoretical support for government departments to formulate more targeted policies on digital economy development and carbon emission reduction under the constraint of "dual carbon" goal. This will help promote the development of digital economy and carbon emission reduction, and better achieve China's carbon emission reduction targets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, the U.S. Census Bureau created a new census designation known as micropolitan statistical areas to better differentiate between metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. This article uses hierarchical clustering and discriminate analysis to create a typology of micropolitan areas using U.S. census data on demographic, housing, and economic characteristics. The regional concentration ratio (RCR) is then used to determine whether a cluster type is over- or underrepresented at the census division. The analysis revealed a three-cluster solution with: (1) a middle- class cluster overrepresented in the East North Central and West North Central divisions; (2) a poor, minority cluster overrepresented in the South Atlantic, East South Central, West South Central, and Mountain divisions; and (3) a high human capital cluster overrepresented in the New England, Mountain, and Pacific divisions. Of micropolitan areas, 59.8 percent were considered middle-class; 28.1 percent were poor, minority; and 12.1 percent were high human capital. The nine-cluster solution further refined cluster categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The influence of the innovation input dimension on the innovation output dimension has been measured based on the values of the GII criteria of the countries specified in the Global Innovation Index (GII) reports. Methodology/Approach/Design- The effects of the innovation input dimension on the innovation output dimension has been measured using a structural equation model with the relevant values indicated in the GII reports for the years 2008 to 2022 for each country. Findings Firstly, it has been ascertained that the input dimension of the innovation has a notable and constructive effect on the output dimension. Secondly, it has been observed that the criteria contributing the most to the relational structure are 'institutions', 'human capital and research', 'infrastructure', and 'market sophistication'. Originality/Value- The assessment of this study suggests a potential contribution to the field of innovation. Additionally, significant revelations have been obtained regarding the augmentation of the global interplay between the innovation input and output of various countries, precisely determining the specific innovation input criteria that require refinement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Universities are widely recognized as key players in entrepreneurial ecosystems that support entrepreneurial activities to create economic and social value in the region. Previous research has increased our understanding about the role of universities contributing to regional economic development and entrepreneurship through knowledge transfer mechanisms, increasing human capital and innovation activity. However, little is known about the contribution of universities to the actual entrepreneurial processes in spatial context. Utilizing the case study approach, this study examines university as an ecosystem actor, focusing particularly on the enabling role of universities in entrepreneurial opportunity formation. As a result, this study provides a conceptualization of four different entrepreneurial opportunity spaces, bounded by the varying degrees of knowledge applicability and opportunity proximity. This article contributes to research on regional entrepreneurial ecosystems and on the role of universities as ecosystem actors contributing to research knowledge-based entrepreneurial opportunity formation for innovative entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation districts have gained attention as a fast-spreading urban economic development strategy, raising numerous questions. What are their distinguishing attributes? Are they a substantive policy innovation? Are they likely to succeed in fostering innovation and economic dynamism? We propose a definition of innovation districts based on their characteristic features. Given the ambiguity of the term in practice, this is crucial for understanding and analyzing the strategy. We then evaluate innovation districts by applying theories and current understandings of the spatial and economic development aspects of innovation, entrepreneurship, and human capital, illustrating with examples from Boston, Detroit, Saint Louis, and San Diego. We conclude that the combination of components that comprises innovation districts is both new and valuable. Innovation districts present a potential pathway for advancing regional economic development goals via the pathways of innovation and entrepreneurship. We stress the importance of rigorous empirical evaluation and research regarding a variety of practical and strategic concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of the study was to verify if soft-skills training is an effective intervention in reducing work-related stress among miners, that is, people who run the risk of losing health and/or life due to unpredictable natural forces or human error at work. Background: The motivation for the intervention was based on Job Demands-Resources model where soft skills are job resources that help individuals to cope with or prevent high demands of the environment. The needed skills as well as work demands were first investigated and then a custom training was developed. The rationale for introducing soft-skills training into the work environment can be seen as compatible with the Human Capital Model (HCM) which is designed to stimulate positive organizational behaviour by providing an effective approach to ensure employees' adequate coping with work-related stress. Method: 96 volunteer employees were assigned to intervention (n = 48) and comparison (n = 48) groups. 16-hour tailored training covered tasks and simulation games related to communication, teambuilding, self-management and conflict resolution skills. Job Content Questionnaire, Occupational Stress Indicator (modified to fit the mining environment) and General Health Questionnaire were used in the study. A MANOVA with effect-size measures was conducted. Results: Results revealed a significant increase in decision latitude and social support for the trainees. A substantial decrease in stress was also observed, along with a significant decrease in general health problems. There were no such changes in the comparison group. Conclusions: A soft-skills training, including communication, teamwork, self-motivation and conflict-resolution skills, helped participants to cope better with the stressful environment and improved their mental health. These effects lasted three months later. Application: The intervention improved miners' psychosocial health and the strategies of coping with stress, which increased safety and health in the company. Investigating the effectiveness of such interventions included in the general Human Capital Model, as it was done in the study, might be a step forward towards building an interdisciplinary approach for health and safety and human resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Children sleep less on days with longer daylight duration. • Sleeping longer improves selected general developmental, behavioural and health outcomes in children and adolescents. • Sleeping more increases children's BMI scores, mainly by increasing the risk of being overweight. • The results indicate a null or relatively small positive impact of sleeping longer on cognitive skills. Children and adolescents spend more than one-third of their time sleeping. Yet, we know little about the causal impact of sleeping on their development. This paper is the first to exploit variation in local daily daylight duration measured on pre-determined diary dates across the same individuals through time as an instrument in an individual fixed effects regression model to draw causal estimates of sleep duration on a comprehensive set of child development indicators. Applying this model to about 50 thousand time use diaries from two cohorts of Australian children spanning over 16 years, we first document that children sleep substantially less on days with longer daylight duration. Our results show that sleeping longer improves selected general developmental, behavioural and health outcomes in children and adolescents. By contrast, sleeping more statistically significantly increases the BMI scores, mainly by increasing the risk of being overweight. Moreover, while the impact of sleep duration on general and behavioural outcomes is more pronounced for females or older individuals, the effect on BMI is largely driven by males. The results indicate a null or relatively small positive impact of sleeping longer on cognitive skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Typically, in standardised tests, girls underperform boys in mathematics while boys underperform girls in reading. Can these educational inequalities be driven by specific testing practices? This study addresses this question by innovatively using data from the largest worldwide standardized test and exploiting the random variation in the format of the tests assigned to students. I find that there is a noticeable widening of the gender gap when a larger share of questions is multiple-choice, rather than filling-the-gap questions. A 10 percentage point increase in the share of multiple-choice questions inflates female under-performance in mathematics by 0.025 standard deviations and male under-performance in reading by 0.035 standard deviations. This accounts for nearly one-quarter of the overall gender disparity found in these subjects. I provide suggestive evidence that ruling out alternative options, rather than coming up with an entire answer, may contribute to cognitive information overload among students with lower confidence levels (generally girls in mathematics and boys in reading). These cognitive loads, in turn, have implications for a student's future level of effort and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Laurentian Great Lakes region in North America is experiencing climate-driven disturbances that threaten the public safety of the region and is forcing communities to respond. Communities vary in their ability to respond to these disturbances based on their existing capacities and access to resources, but responses in the region are uneven and create vulnerabilities to disasters. A virtual workshop was conducted to understand the community responses to climate-driven disturbances in the Great Lakes and identify the essential capacities for effective responses. Results show that the region as a whole has not responded adequately, and although the resources exist to respond, they are not adequately organized, and inequalities between urban and rural communities can exacerbate these challenges. Community capacities identified as critical for resilience include leadership, scientific knowledge, and connection to broader regional networks to access additional resources, but there are challenges with the complacency of some communities and deficiencies in mental health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, economic growth is influenced by many domestic and foreign global issues, concerning the decrease of industrial output for the rise in economic inequality and the weakening of the overall condition in the countries. The role of economic growth is based on human capital and investment. Therefore, in this paper, the human capital and economic management system (HC‐EMS) has been proposed to enhance the country's quality based on the capital structure investment. HC explores the role of command and its significance in the production and creation aspects of human capital such that an area can grow creatively. HC‐EMS analysed critical monitoring systems for developing human resources and the high‐tech and creative economic sectors and presented suggestions for change. Besides, there is a need to prove the shortcomings and benefits of human resource development systems and statistical approaches for gathering and analysing information. The impact of financial services and financial transactions may vary; therefore, it is critically important for fostering economic growth. The experimental result suggests that the proposed HC‐EMS achieves the highest growth development ratio than other existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the long-term macroeconomic impact of the war in Ukraine. Exploiting a new stock measure of human capital combining the quality and quantity of education and adult skills, this article quantifies the long-term effect of the war on aggregate productivity through the human capital channel. Results suggest that losses in long-run aggregate productivity could be at about 7% if the war lasts two years. These adverse effects come from school closure and the resulting decline in student learning outcomes and losses in workers' skills, which, without remedial policy action, could persist for decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the systematic GMM and intermediation model, the impact of China's direct investment on the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries are examined from the data of 48 countries during the period of 2008-2019. The results show that China's direct investment can significantly contribute to GTFP in BRI countries through the mediating mechanisms of scale, structural and human capital effects. Of these, the main one is the scale effect. In addition, the scale, structural and human capital effects all positively moderate the green driving effect of China's direct investment in BRI countries, while the technology effect weakens the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the in-depth promotion of low-carbon economic transformation and air pollution control, the role of synergetic control of CO2 and air pollutant emissions has begun to stand out. Based on panel data for 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2020, we measured the coupling and coordination degree of CO2 and air pollutant emissions control (CCD) and revealed the direct effect of human capital on CCD, the heterogeneous effect, and the threshold effect of R&D intensity. The results of the study showed that, firstly, CCD at the provincial level in China showed a stepped-up trend and regional heterogeneity. Second, human capital had a significant positive effect on CCD, and this effect was stronger in the "Four Provinces of Shan-He" and Inland provinces. Third, R&D intensity played a significant threshold role in the impact of human capital on CCD, but there was a "medium-term trap". Therefore, based on the development of differentiated synergistic strategies for pollution and carbon reduction, financial investment in human capital and R&D activities should be increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses a rich city-level dataset to analyse the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and productivity performance in China during 2003–2016. It is shown that ICT positively contributes to Chinese cities' productivity in conjunction with other growth determinants, such as human capital, foreign direct investment (FDI), infrastructure development, financial market development, and research and development investment. An identifiable amplified effect is detected when ICT exceeds certain threshold in Chinese cities. This threshold level is reached in over a half of Chinese cities particularly cities in coastal regions. Finally, ICT is found to substitute human capital in China's context. Since the average education level in Chinese cities is low, the finding is in line with the argument that ICT only improves productivity of high-skilled workers but worsens that of the low-skilled ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Living at or near poverty can be isolating for individuals and their families. Using the ecological perspective with emphasis on transactions across systems, we examine the social and community capital of urban, low-income individuals to understand the broader terrain that shapes and is shaped by some of their choices, and suggest the implications that our findings might have for anti-poverty initiatives. Data are from interviews with 181 urban residents involved in a federally funded workforce development training, a particular type of social support programming that endeavors to increase the human capital of participants so that they can compete more effectively in the labor market. Findings indicate that respondents have small, homogenous networks, live in resource depleted communities, and have limited sources of social support. We frame this as being caught in "urban silos," in which transactions to more resource-robust systems are minimal to non-existent. While the development of one's human capital is essential, because of these silos, it may not be sufficient for moving an individual and their family out of poverty. Job training, and other anti-poverty initiatives, need to intentionally assist participants in network building so they can better access opportunity pathways that provide jobs and other economic and social resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limited export potential can impede growth prospects. While core regions serve as hubs of globalization, the question remains as to how rural regions can increase their exports. By identifying the factors that enhance the export competitiveness of rural regions, particularly in comparison to urban regions, we can steer them towards sustainable development and overcome constraints related to remoteness. However, there is no simple or shortcut way of increasing exports in rural regions. It still requires long-term investments, improvements in human capital, inflows of foreign-owned entities, and advantageous operations of special economic zones. Social capital has a positive impact on exports at the regional level, but its effect could not be acknowledged in the subsets of regions. What should rural regions prioritise? Investing in human capital and promoting non-agricultural economic activities that have a greater impact on rural exports than urban ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how different forms of digitalization affect inequality in Europe. Using a cross-national dataset of economic development and digitalization across a range of regression specifications including country and time fixed effects, this article explores the heterogeneous relationships of disparate forms of digitalization -- human capital, broadband connectivity, integration of digital technology into small and medium enterprises, and digital public services -- with income inequality. Fixed country and time effects models show that only the digitalization of human capital and integration of digital technology by SMEs are associated with decreases in income inequality. Causal mediation analysis reveals that tertiary education, despite its oft-cited connection to digital technology uptake, has no causal effect on the pathways through which digitalization of labour and SME operations lower inequality, which are direct. The findings tentatively suggest that there exist informal sources of digital skills training apart from formal tertiary education and point to SMEs as a potentially impactful area for investing in digitalization as pathways for income redistribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Student-staff dialogue is often emphasised as a means of improving students' engagement with assessment and feedback processes. However, focusing on dialogue alone overlooks the complexity of students' experiences and the sociomaterial contexts in which they occur. To surface the roles of the social and the material in students' experiences, we engaged pedagogies of mattering theory, and employed a rich picture (RP) approach in which students visually depicted their experiences of assessment and feedback. We anticipated that making use of a range of icons, symbols, and visual metaphors might enable participants to think about what matters in their everyday experiences, moving beyond solely human–human interactions, to highlight the significance of the objects, spaces and material elements that are involved. RPs were analysed using a form of content analysis and the following recurrent motifs were identified: Visual metaphors depicting uncertainty; emotive faces showing impacts on wellbeing; seasons, clocks and calendars depicting the pervasiveness of processes; and figures and objects depicting human and non-human elements. Based on the findings, we argue for a shift to greater embedding of meaningful relational approaches in assessment and feedback processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores perceived skill outcomes among graduates of 39 Australian higher education institutions in the short- to medium-term after course completion. While acknowledging important dimensions of graduate employability beyond the skills-based approach, we investigated graduate perspectives on their industry-relevant skill outcomes from university, in preparation for employment. Using national data, we build on earlier research by examining the viewpoints of 24,044 research and coursework graduates, at all levels, at six months and three years post-graduation. We found that as graduates progressed in their careers, perceived skill outcomes from university became less favourable, particularly among coursework graduates. Further, we observed differing perceptions among student groups, emphasising the potential learning gain for non-traditional student groups participating in skill-related interventions, such as work-integrated learning, and the need to design activities which cater to differing needs and are accessible by all. The study highlights how exploring graduate perspectives into the longer term can develop our understanding of the value of university education for enhancing skills and identifying potential areas for curriculum review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trade and investment are crucial drivers of economic growth. Successful execution of trade and investment policy can elevate a developing country to a sustained growth path and make it self‐reliant. Bangladesh implemented a trade liberalization policy in the 1980s, deviating much from its conservative trade policy. This article assesses the impacts of trade, investment in physical as well as human capital, and a few trade policy variables on income surge for the liberalized regime. The econometric analysis finds that export, import, and domestic investment stimulate income. The impact of foreign investment is not conducive. Public spending on education also contributes to the income surge. Among the policy variables, trade openness and currency depreciation produce a beneficial impact. Population growth retards economic growth. The baseline results hold in the estimations involving several specifications of variables and testified as robust. The article views that a comprehensive approach to trade and investment policy would ensure the comparative advantage of trade and the well‐being of Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An inquiry into the impact of external and domestic borrowings is considered timely for Nigeria, given the growing public debt profile amid deteriorating human capital development. Using data from 1990 to 2021, the study estimates the effects of domestic and external debts on Nigeria's human capital development. The study employed the fully modified ordinary least squares and canonical cointegration regression as the main estimation technique and the robustness check, respectively. The study discovered that domestic and external debt, economic growth and debt servicing exert positive and significant influence on human capital development in Nigeria while environmental pollution has an inverse and significant impact on human capital development in Nigeria. Premised on the outcomes, policy suggestions aimed at enhancing human capital development in Nigeria have been put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use new survey data from 1,203 households in rural Eastern India to estimate cross-sectional models of overall energy use and embedded emissions. Findings indicate that the primary driver of household energy use is household size and affluence. This is unsurprising and consistent with findings from the engineering literature on energy demand. However, there is also a substantial and significant moderating influence of skills on energy use. For emissions, we observe a bifurcated relationship in line with educational attainment. For those that have completed secondary education or more, skills are negatively associated with energy use and emissions, whereas for those with lesser qualifications more skills are associated with more energy use and emissions. The results are consistent with the environmental Kuznets curve, which implies that a critical level of affluence is required before environmental impacts start lessening. The results also echo a sociological critique of human capital theory − that individual abilities are not productive in and of themselves, but rather in relation to socially determined opportunity structures. Our findings show that this could also hold for greenhouse gas emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rising income inequality has recently garnered intensive attention owing to its significance in theory and practice. This has rendered the mechanism through which inequality can be understood, even from a microscopic perspective, to institute proper policies that curtail it important. We contribute to the literature by examining the effect of freedom on income inequality using data from 34 least-free and 18 most-free countries from 2000 to 2020 in Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe, respectively. A novel fixed-effects panel quantile regression econometric estimator was employed, and the findings showed a non-linear relationship between personal freedom and income inequality for both regions. Again, both regions reported an inverse relationship between personal freedom and income inequality within the medium-run quantiles. However, a positive relationship was reported in the short-run and long-run quantiles of Sub-Saharan Africa and Western Europe, respectively, whereas the inverse was the same. Finally, the significant adverse relationship was more dominant in Western Europe, implying that high levels of personal freedom in the region explain the low levels of income inequality compared to Sub-Saharan Africa, which has lower levels of personal freedom and higher income inequality. Concerning the findings, it is recommended that policymakers and governments of least- and most-free regions institutionalise personal liberties that support human capital development and establish mechanisms to implement enacted freedoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the return to education in South Korea by comparing metropolitan areas with non-metropolitan areas. It utilizes the Korean Labor and Income Panel Study from 2018 and 2019 for analysis, alongside the Mincer equation. The findings indicate that female workers have a higher return to education compared to male workers. The Oaxaca decomposition method reveals that private academies contribute to increasing differential treatment between men and women, whereas public education reduces the gap. Additionally, the regression discontinuity design method shows that the university premium is significantly different by region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the behavioral theory of the firm, we research how performance feedback influences the formation of CEOs' passion. We articulate that previous performance directly increases CEOs' passion. Specifically, positive affective outcomes (performance above aspiration-level) advance CEOs' positive feelings and motivation toward the domains of success (obsessive passion). For instance, when a firm accomplishes performance objectives, such as reaching sales goals, CEOs' positive feelings toward developing current products would be boosted. Moreover, negative affective outcomes (performance below aspiration-level) would also positively impact CEOs' passion since the CEOs would endeavor to reduce the difference between performance and their aspiration-level. As such, performance feedback is a critical antecedent of CEOs' obsessive passion. In addition, we apply human capital as a moderator between performance feedback and CEOs' obsessive passion. Results based on multiphase survey data from 189 CEOs of Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises indicate that both positive and negative performance feedback positively increase CEOs' obsessive passion. Moreover, human capital negatively moderates the relationship between positive performance feedback and CEOs' obsessive passion and positively moderates the relationship between negative performance feedback and CEOs' obsessive passion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Income inequality is an essential cause of violence, stagnant development, and political instability. This study will examine the positive and negative shocks in tourism development, and the distribution of the interaction between tourism development, economic growth, human capital, globalization, and income inequality will be discussed in Singapore, a developed and top-visited country. By adopting autoregressive distributed lag and non-linear autoregressive distributed lag approaches for panel data from 1978 to 2022, the results indicate an asymmetric cointegration among variables, and positive and negative changes in tourism development lead to decreased income inequality. More specifically, the asymmetric effect of tourism is found both in the short- and long-term, and positive shock has a greater impact than negative shock. At the same time, the findings also reveal that economic growth and globalization enhance, while human capital negatively affects income inequality in Singapore. These findings strengthen the belief of Singapore policy-makers and recommend several significant lessons for developing countries to promote tourism, sustainable development, and reduce income inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving comprehensive and high-quality employment is essential to achieving new levels of people's well-being. The advancement of Internet technology not only affect the massiveness of employment, but also the quality of that. On the basis of constructing an employment quality evaluation index system, this article uses CLDS (China Labor-force Dynamics Survey) data to explore the impact of Internet use on the employment quality of workers and its underlying mechanisms. The results reveal that Internet use has a significant positive impact on improving the employment quality of workers. As the quantile of employment quality increases, internet use has a greater impact on workers with a lower employment quality quantile. In addition, the use of Internet has a more significant promoting effect on the employment quality of rural and female workers. From the perspective of mechanism, Internet use can increase workers' social capital and influence their employment quality through the accumulation of social capital. Based on this, countermeasures and suggestions are put forward from the aspects of increasing investment and construction of Internet infrastructure, further perfecting the reform of household registration system, promoting human capital investment and social capital construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental degradation (ED) and the factors that influence it are being addressed on several levels, including individual, domestic, and geographical. Our research collaborates in two ways. First, it investigates the effect of economic complexity (EC) interaction with human capital (HC) and political stability on the environmental quality of 55 Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries. Second, spatial impacts are considered when calculating variables influencing environmental quality at the geographical level. The relevance of geographical effects is determined using different diagnostic procedures, and direct and spillover effects are evaluated using the Spatial Durbin Model to examine the phenomena. Political stability reduces ED and improves ecological sustainability by regulating EC and ED. Surprisingly, the spatial interaction term of HC and EC indicates that EC improves environmental quality through the HC channel in the native country and its neighbors. From these findings, policymakers might gain new insights and enhance environmental quality in BRI countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the digital transformation process, the phases focusing on technical and economic aspects were followed by a phase exposing human capital issues. In approximately 3,000 acts of the European Union relating to the digital transformation process published in Eur-lex, as well as in an increasing number of national acts of the Member States, the terms "digital competences" and "digital skills" appear. They occur, inter alia, in the context of the financing of development tasks and their achievement indicators. In the application of existing law, it must be taken into account that the scopes and interrelationships of these new terms are framed differently. This ambiguity may have a negative impact on the effectiveness of digital transformation. It is postulated that the terminological consistency of the multi-level regulation should be improved and, in doing so, it should be noted that the prominence of digital skills in prospective acts and the way in which knowledge is captured can affect the use of the potential of universities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]