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The traditional manufacturing industry is China's second-largest source of carbon emissions, and the successful completion of dual carbon target depend on the traditional manufacturing industry's ability to reduce emissions. This paper constructs the evaluation index system to analyze the driving factors and green coupling level of the digital economy enabling the green development of traditional manufacturing industry from three aspects: industry digitalization capacity, socio-economic benefits capacity and ecological resources carrying capacity based on the theory of social shaping of technology. From the perspective of regional economic development, this paper constructs the spatial Durbin model and threshold regression model to analyze the mediation effect and spatial spillover mechanism of the digital economy empowering the green development of traditional manufacturing industry. Based on the panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2020, the empirical analysis show that digital economy has the positive impact on the green development of traditional manufacturing industry through the digital innovation, industrial upgrading and human capital. At same time, the digital economy has a positive spatial autocorrelation pattern of the green development of traditional manufacturing industries with "high in the eastern and low in the western of China" from the global Moran index. Through the policy test of carbon-trading pilot programs by the difference-in-differences model, the digital economy has a non-linear impact on the intensive production of traditional manufacturing industry, which green finance activate the new impetus of market and the data element resources enhance industrial coordination development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the import and export trade data of 29 provinces and cities in China from 1997 to 2017, this paper studies the impact of trade on China's labor demand elasticity, and whether the impact will be affected by the level of domestic human capital. The results show that: import is conducive to improving the labor demand elasticity, and export is conducive to reducing the labor demand elasticity. Moreover, with the improvement of domestic human capital level, the weakening effect of export on the labor demand elasticity is strengthened, and the improving effect of import on the labor demand elasticity is weakened. The reason is that the improvement of the level of human capital can reduce the demand elasticity of domestic and foreign consumers for domestic products by improving the cost performance of products, and can also reduce the factor substitution elasticity of labor force. Therefore, the improvement effect of import on the demand elasticity of labor force is weakened, and the weakening effect of export on the demand elasticity of labor force is strengthened. It can be seen that the improvement of domestic human capital level is conducive to the labor force to deal with the employment security problem in the trade liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Compared with absolute poverty, relative poverty is more concerned about social equity. Network poverty alleviation is one of the effective ways to bridge the urban–rural digital divide and solve relative poverty problem. Existing studies have confirmed the positive role of Internet use on the alleviation of relative poverty among farmers, but there is much less study analyze the differences in the influence of Internet use on the relative poverty among farmers with different income structure. In this study, we use the data from China Family Panel Studies and use the Probit model for benchmark regression to study the influence of Internet use on rural household relative poverty. Also, we use the redefinition of core variables to conduct robustness tests and use instrumental variables to deal with endogenous issues. The empirical results show that Internet use significantly reduces the probability of farmers falling into relative poverty, and Internet use has a better effect on poverty reduction for full-time farmers than part-time farmers and non-farmers. Further the analysis of the impact mechanism finds that Internet use could impact the relative poverty of rural households through its effects on their information channels, human capital and social capital. Then, we analyze the differences in the impact mechanisms of Internet use on different types of farmers and find that the mediating effect of information channel was not significant for full-time farmers; while for part-time farmers, enhancing human capital play a more important role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing carbon crisis threatens sustainable development. This paper verifies that the rise of green finance contributes to overcoming this challenge. The benchmark results show that green finance can directly drive decarbonization of the economy. High-level openness, government support, human capital and urbanization are prerequisites of this effect, and green finance is more effective in promoting decarbonization in areas with high carbon intensity. Moreover, green finance drives economic decarbonization by promoting economic growth, technical innovation, industrial upgrading, and renewable energy transition. Internet availability, financial level and higher education have moderating roles in boosting this effect. Furthermore, the implementation of green finance policy also contributes to decarbonization. The robustness of the basic result is proven with several methods, thus strengthening the reliability of the basic conclusion in this paper. Based on the above main findings, targeted policy recommendations concerning how to further develop green finance are proposed in this paper. • Green finance can directly drive economic decarbonization. • Some high-level external circumstances are the prerequisite of that effect. • Green finance can drive economic decarbonization through mediating paths. • Moderating paths are Internet availability, financial level and education. • Green finance policy makes contributions to the economic decarbonization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of broadband infrastructure construction on urban green innovation by taking the "Broadband China" exemplary cities policy as a quasi-natural experiment and employing a staggered difference-in-differences model. Using the panel data of 283 Chinese cities, the empirical results show that the "Broadband China" exemplary cities policy had a positive effect on urban green innovation, especially in the eastern and high-grade cities. The policy mainly promoted green innovation through two channels: enhancing the proportion of science and technology expenditure in fiscal expenditures and improving human capital. We further provide insights into the moderating effect on the relationship between the "Broadband China" exemplary cities policy and green innovation. We find that greater environmental regulation and intellectual property protection can strengthen the positive effect of the "Broadband China" exemplary cities policy on green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The helping-hand theory of government suggests that government can directly spur innovation by providing subsidies, tax credits, and bank loans. However, the existing literature largely ignores more indirect mechanisms such as when government attracts highly skilled foreign labor to work in local firms and thereby enhances the accumulation of corporate human capital. To fill this theoretical gap, we exploit a unique policy shock that began in 2008 when local governments issued highly skilled foreign labor introduction policies that attracted expatriate Chinese to return home to work. By using a difference-in-differences model, we find that the enactment of these policies promotes corporate innovation and the effect is more pronounced for companies previously lacking skilled employees. The results suggest that the upgrade of human capital serves as a channel for this effect. Moreover, the policy causes a greater innovation-incentive effect for those native companies that require more high-skilled labor, suggesting that the highly skilled foreign labor is complementary to that of locals. Last, we find that political connected non-state-owned enterprises whose senior executives have overseas experience benefit more from the policy. Our study provides policy implications by revealing an overseas talent-driven innovation development path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists have mainly focused on human capital accumulation rather than on the causes and consequences of human capital depreciation in late adulthood. To investigate how human capital depreciates over the life cycle, we examine how a newly introduced pension program, the National Rural Pension Scheme, affects cognitive performance in rural China. We find significant adverse effects of access to pension benefits on cognitive functioning among the elderly. We detect the most substantial impact of the program on delayed recall, a cognition measure linked to the onset of dementia. In terms of mechanisms, cognitive deterioration in late adulthood is mediated by a substantial reduction in social engagement, volunteering, and activities fostering mental acuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• It explores the role of intergovernmental transfers in intergenerational mobility. • Intergovernmental transfers promote the equalizations of public goods across regions. • Transfers targeting equal fiscal capacities should boost intergenerational mobility. • It confirms intergovernmental transfers weaken the income persistence heterogeneously. • Furthermore, two mechanisms and two categories of transfers are also distinguished. Intergenerational income mobility has been widely concerned focusing mainly on the transmission mechanism within families. This paper turns to explore the structural determinants and pays special attentions to the role of intergovernmental transfer. Since the fiscal decentralization in 1990s, intergovernmental transfers become an increasingly critical part in Chinese fiscal system, balancing the fiscal capacities across regions and promoting the equalization of public goods. The question arises naturally as whether transfers targeting at equalization can boost intergenerational mobility. However, little work has investigated this intersection of studies and seldom is known about this question. This paper tries to shed some new lights. Through investigations, it confirms that intergovernmental transfers weaken the income persistence and the effect is especially significant for urban areas; the effects for the rural are mixed. Further explorations indicate that the special-purpose transfer payment has greater effects when measured during college period; notably, entering college may bring the rural children fundamental changes relative to other levels of education. In conclusion, the intergovernmental transfer system is relatively more pro-urban. To better fulfill the equalizing effect of the intergovernmental transfers on both static inequality across regions and dynamic inequality across generations, should the transfers be re-framed with cautions tilting more towards the rural.Meanwhile, the competitive behaviors and (dis)incentives of the local governments should also be taken into accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current era faces the devastating threats of global warming than what is evident in the pre-industrial age. Efforts toward resolving these environmental issues have heightened the calls for pro-green policy measures in which renewable energy and green finance stand out. Consequently, this study examines the impact of renewable energy, green finance, technological innovation, and economic complexity on sustainable development captured by sustainable economic growth and carbon neutrality in China. The empirical model endogenizes the role of natural resource dependence and human capital. The analysis is based on annual time series data from 1996 to 2018 estimated using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The empirical results reveal that renewable energy (RE) and technological innovations (TECIN) are fundamental factors whose engagement is not negligible if the other indicators must provide desirable and consistent growth and environmental effects that support sustainable development. In particular, the essential roles of green finance on sustainable development are empirically confirmed for China. Interestingly, the robustness analyses conducted provided substantial backings for the main results. Practical policy implications leading to the sustenance of green finance, renewable energy, and technological innovation for driving sustainable development in the Chinese economy are formulated based on empirical results. • Policies signify greenhouse gas emissions reduction motivated this research. • Autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model employed for the period of 1996–2018. • Renewable energy & technological innovations are vital for sustainable development. • The impacts of the other regressors are inconsistent on the outcome variables. • The robustness analyses conducted provided substantial backings for the main results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban green development efficiency (UGDE) was estimated with Super-SBM DEA method. • Inverted U-shaped relationship between innovative human capital agglomeration and UGDE. • Environmental regulations push back the threshold of optimal agglomeration size for human capital agglomeration. • The digital economy has a positive moderating effect on the impact of human capital agglomeration on UGDE. As a scarce and high-quality production factor, innovative human capital (IHC) significantly contributes to the innovation-driven development and low-carbon transformation of economies. Based on panel data of 278 cities in China spanning from 2011 to 2021, this paper employs Super-SBM DEA method, two-stage systematic GMM, and dynamic panel threshold model to comprehensively study the effect of innovative human capital agglomeration (IHCA) on urban green development efficiency (UGDE). The results indicate that: (1) In general, there exists an inverted U-shaped relationship between IHCA and UGDE. The Williamson hypothesis significantly influences the green development process of Chinese cities. (2) The inflection values of the inverted U-shaped curve are sensitive to different factors. Environmental regulations push back the threshold of optimal agglomeration size for IHCA, reducing the risk of the "crowding effect". (3) The digital economy has a positive moderating effect on the impact of IHCA on UGDE. The moderating effect of industrial digitization is more significant than that of digital industrialization. This paper puts forward suggestions on rational utilization of positive externalities of IHCA, appropriate enhancement of environmental regulation, and promotion if the integration of innovative talents with the digital economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the study of rural community resilience has become the focus of rural researchers in response to the decline of villages in the process of urbanization. However, current research on village resilience has mainly focused on the analysis and assessment of village resilience, while there is a lack of research on the resilience reconstruction of mountainous villages severely affected by urbanization. Taking Longtan village in Fujian Province, China, as an example, this paper describes how industrial transformation promotes community capital development and their impact on community resilience. It shows that the diversified participants in the industrial transformation process have fostered constructive dialogue, collective discussion, and self-governance. The widespread use of digital technology has helped communities to have the ability to learn and innovate, and has played an important role in promoting rural industrial transformation and community resilience. It argues that the improvement of human capital in the process of industrial transformation drives the "spiral" of community capital, and that the diversity and coupling among community capital promote the synergistic development of community capital and help communities rebuild resilience. • Exploring the way to develop the resilience of mountainous rural communities. • Industrial transformation as a prerequisite for community capital enhancement. • Digital technology plays an important role in community resilience reconstruction. • Community empowerment contributes to a diversified rural construction entity. • Improving human capital is the key to rebuilding community resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study uses the construction of national e-commerce demonstration pilot cities as a quasi-natural experiment, adopts a multi-period difference-in-differences model to empirically test the impact of the National E-Commerce Demonstration City Pilot Po licy (NEDCPP) on urban entrepreneurial activity with a sample from the developing country of China, and further reveals the underlying mechanism and heterogeneity. The empirical results are as follows. (1) The NEDCPP can significantly improve urban entrepreneurial activity, which is 39.4% higher in demonstration cities than in non-demonstration cities. (2) The heterogeneity tests indicate that NEDCPP implementation can increase the number of new ventures in wholesale and retail, accommodation and catering, information transmission, software and information technology services, and financial industries. The effect is stronger for cities with high Internet penetration rates but does not appear in cities with low levels of digital financial inclusion and human capital. (3) The results of the mechanism test show that attracting venture capital and promoting technology innovation are the inherent mechanisms by which the NEDCPP activates entrepreneurial activity. Related research conclusions provide policy guidance for optimizing e-commerce development, enhancing urban entrepreneurial activity, solving structural employment contradictions, and promoting high-quality economic development. • We incorporate the NEDCPP into the framework of the entrepreneurial process model to analyze the impact of the NEDCPP on urban entrepreneurial activity • The NEDCPP can significantly improve urban entrepreneurial activity • The NEDCPP promotes urban entrepreneurship activity by exerting financing and innovation effects [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vocational secondary education has been widely promoted in recent decades as a major component of economic reforms in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, whether vocational or academic secondary education better prepares students in LMICs to enter the labor market is still a matter of debate. In this study, we use data from six waves of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020) to examine the long-term income disparities between students who graduated from vocational high schools (VHS) and those who graduated from academic high schools (AHS). We first perform a cross-cohort analysis using unbalanced panel data to compare the wage incomes of VHS graduates and AHS graduates across many graduation cohorts. We then perform a cohort-specific analysis by constructing a subsample of students enrolled in high school in 2010 and comparing their income in subsequent years. Both analyses show that VHS enrollment is associated with a significant and lasting income disadvantage compared to AHS enrollment. Our findings highlight important future research and policy directions to improve the quality and outcomes of vocational secondary education in China. • In this study, we use data from six waves of the China Family Panel Studies to examine the long-term income disparities between vocational high school (VHS) and academic high school (AHS) graduates. • We perform a cross-cohort analysis using unbalanced panel data to compare the wage incomes of VHS graduates and AHS graduates across many graduation cohorts. • We then perform a cohort-specific analysis by constructing a subsample of students enrolled in high school in 2010 and comparing their income in subsequent years. • Both analyses show that VHS enrollment is associated with a significant and lasting income disadvantage compared to AHS enrollment. Our findings highlight important future research and policy directions to improve the quality and outcomes of vocational secondary education in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Poverty Alleviation Resettlement (PAR) has been extensively adopted in China as a crucial approach towards achieving poverty eradication goals, resulting in notable successes. Nonetheless, this approach poses significant challenges to the relocated households in sustaining their livelihood in a sustainable manner. Uncovering the impact of different livelihood capitals on livelihood resilience and identifying strategies to enhance farmers' resilience are crucial challenges demanding immediate attention. Within the framework of sustainable livelihoods, this research investigates the relationship between livelihood capitals and resilience among rural households relocated for poverty alleviation in China. The analysis reveals that enhancing the social capital, physical capital, financial capital, and coping behavior of relocated farmers can bolster their livelihood resilience. Although human capital does not directly influence resilient livelihoods, it indirectly contributes through its mediating role in coping behaviors. This paper attempts to remedy the shortcomings of previous studies on the relationship between "livelihood capital and livelihood resilience" that disregarded the transmission of intermediate variables. The outcomes of this study bear significant practical and theoretical implications regarding the improvement of response strategies, the strengthening of farmers' livelihood resilience, and the expansion and refinement of the sustainable livelihood theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Develop a panel data model to study China, a developing economy with existence of income and human capital inequalities. • Study the role of initial income as an essential family resource to finance access to schooling. • Construct province-level income and human capital Gini coefficients. • Use the fixed-effect IV panel approach to address reverse causality. • Human capital inequality will increase when income inequality rises. • Increasing the growth rate of initial income will weaken the relationship between income and human capital inequalities. This paper studies the effect of income inequality on human capital inequality empirically across 31 provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions of China during 1996-2018. Using a series of econometric approaches, including the two-way fixed-effect IV panel regression, we find that: (i) growing income inequality is associated with an expansion in human capital inequality, given all other things being equal, and (ii) increasing the growth rate of initial income, as an essential family resource to finance access to schooling, tends to weaken the positive effect of income inequality on human capital inequality. Our results are consistent with the existing theory, showing that impoverished households who have less family resources are more likely to be restrained from accessing better education opportunities under credit market imperfections. Moreover, our results are robust to alternative modeling specifications and estimation methods, including instrumental variables that address the problem of reverse causality arising from human capital inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable development requires a nondeclining growth of the productive base or comprehensive wealth of an economy. We use the concept of inclusive wealth (IW) to assess national wealth and sustainability. IW comprises natural, human, and produced capital. With multisource data and GIS technology, this study created a pixel-level IW database for China and Japan in 2000, 2005, 2010, and 2015. Using the high-resolution data, we first conducted a multiscalar analysis of the spatiotemporal pattern of IW and investigated the contributions of component capital to IW change. Then, we employed the decomposition of the Theil and Gini indices to explore the spatial wealth inequality and its driving forces. The multiscalar analysis reveals that sustainability evaluation in terms of IW is sensitive to geographical scales and that the contributions of capital types to IW growth are spatially heterogeneous. Although national IW increases in China and Japan, certain regions lose wealth within the country, and the proportion of those unsustainable areas increases as the analysis unit gets smaller. According to the inequality analysis, the spatial distribution of wealth is highly imbalanced with a substantial urban–rural divide and coastal-inland gap in both countries, and the total wealth inequality and these gaps widen from 2000 to 2015. China is experiencing significant structural changes in wealth composition. In particular, the structural shift to produced capital, for which the distribution is the most uneven, dominates the increasing trend of wealth inequality in China. In Japan, the wealth structure is stable, while depopulation in rural areas and the concentration of human capital in metropolises enhance spatial wealth inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Employing a DID method using the NIP as a quasi-natural experiment. • NIP implementations significantly improved CAs of students in poverty. • Mechanisms are health status, sense of belonging at school, and expectations for the future. • Nutritional poverty alleviation programs helped promote human capital development. While considerable attention has been paid to the benefits of school nutritious feeding, little literature focused on the effect on human capital accumulation for students in poverty. By drawing on the quasi-natural experiment of the Nutrition Improvement Program (NIP) and adopting the Difference-in-Differences (DID) method, we sought to determine the causal relationship between school nutritious feeding and the cognitive ability (CA) development among poor students in China. Specifically, our estimates confirmed that NIP implementations significantly improved the CAs of students in poverty, which is supported by several robustness checks. Moreover, the potential mechanisms of this positive effect included improved health status, enhanced sense of belonging at school, and increased positive expectations for the future. Our study further enriches the literature on the positive effects of school nutritious feeding and provides insights for developing countries to customize nutritional poverty alleviation programs to promote human capital development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research delves into the impact of public education investment and advanced human capital structure on the innovation outputs at various processes of China's regional innovation value chains. Utilizing the spatial Dubin model, the study analyzes panel data from 30 provinces spanning from 2002 to 2020, distinguishing between the Research and Development (R&D) and Commercialization sub-processes in regional innovation. It reveals that public education investment significantly boosts R&D output directly and also positively influences commercialization output through spillover effects. This trend remains consistent over time. The study also uncovers regional variations in the effects of public education investment on innovation outputs between China's eastern regions and its central-western counterparts. This study does not find any evidence that public education investment leads to local advanced human capital structure. In terms of direct impacts, there appears to be a substitution effect between public education investment and the advanced human capital structure on local R&D outputs, while a more advanced human capital structure tends to negatively correlate with local commercialization outputs. Notably, the study indicates that the higher the level of advanced human capital structure, the more pronounced the negative impact of public education investment on local commercialization outputs. In light of the above findings, we believe that governments should increase public investment in education, but also recognize that investment alone is not enough. It is necessary to transform the education development model and establish a high-quality innovation system. Differentiated strategies for different regions should be implemented, and an appropriate investment compensation mechanism should be established to solve the problem of uneven investment returns. We also do not recommend blindly pursuing the advanced human capital structure. Only when investment in education is in line with the human capital structure will it produce the best results. • Public investment in education has an impact on both sub-processes of the innovation value chain, but with different impact mechanisms. • Public investment in education relies mainly on direct effects on the R&D sub-process and spillover effects on the commercialization sub-process. • There is regional heterogeneity in the impact of public investment in education on both sub-processes of the regional innovation value chain. • Public investment in education may not contribute to regional innovation value chains through advanced human capital structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Performance evaluation is essential for managing and allocating resources in higher education institutions (HEIs), guiding their development. However, in the current evaluation system, the growing issue of academic misconduct (AM) as an undesirable output in research assessments is highly overlooked. To fill this gap, we propose the creative inclusion of AM as an undesirable output in the evaluation system. To validate the potentially questionable nature of the evaluation system without AM, we took China's 32 HEIs within the period of 2016–2018 as an example, separately calculating efficiencies without and with AM through DEA approach. Then we use Wilcoxon test of paired samples and Pearson correlation coefficient confirming that there are increasingly significant differences between the two efficiencies and the two rankings in the sample period, respectively. Therefore, we believe that other performance evaluations for HEIs that do not incorporate AM are likely to be questionable, such as the influencing factors of research efficiency and returns to scale (RTS). Incorporating AM into the evaluation index system, we further explore the influencing factors of research efficiency in sample HEIs through Tobit regression model. Then we propose innovative models tailored specifically for analyzing RTS of HEIs in which undesirable outputs are under extended strong disposability and apply them to the empirical study of China's HEIs. The results show that (1) AM is playing an increasingly prominent role in the research efficiency evaluation of HEIs; (2) local economic development, external exchanges and emphasis on AM in HEIs can improve research efficiency; however, government funding has a negative effect on it while the effect of human capital is not significant; (3) the investment scale in most China's HEIs is optimize or excessive. • We creatively incorporate academic misconduct into performance evaluation of HEIs. • We explore the influencing factors of research efficiency with academic misconduct. • We analyze RTS considering academic misconduct of HEIs by building applicable models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of labor protection on the labor investment efficiency of labor-intensive enterprises. Based on data from A-share listed companies in China, we introduce difference-in-differences design to identify the impact of The Labor Contract Law on enterprises' employment investment and business decision-making. We find that improving labor protection reduces the efficiency of labor investment in labor-intensive enterprises. Improvements in labor protection also cause over-employment, especially in state-owned enterprises. Further tests suggest that labor protection affects the expansion of employees in different ways in state-owned and private enterprises. In private enterprises, labor protection promotes the adjustment and upgrading of human capital structures. We also find that labor protection can improve labor costs for labor-intensive enterprises, but that it has a negative effect on enterprise innovation. This paper provides a clear policy reference for understanding the structural distortion of human capital in the transformation and upgrading of Chinese enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous studies have intensively demonstrated the negative impact of pollution on human capital, few studies have explored the opposite dynamic: whether and how investment in human capital affects pollution. In this paper, we empirically examine the effect of human capital improvement on firms' industrial emissions. We exploit an expanded college enrollment program in China that resulted in a surge in college-educated workers and use a difference-in-differences (DD) strategy to deal with identification. We rely on a unique firm-level dataset that contains comprehensive information on firms' emissions records. We find that investment in human capital significantly and substantially reduces firms' emissions, and the underlying channels are firms' industrial upgrading, use of cleaner energy during the production process, and better compliance with environmental regulations. Our findings document an important but unanticipated benefit of human capital improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets up an evaluation index system (EIS) for industrial green total factor energy efficiency (IGTFEE), which contains undesired outputs. Next, the directional distance function (DDF) model was adopted to evaluate the IGTFEEs in 2003–2017 of 30 provincial administrative regions (provinces) in China. The results show that: The 30 provinces differed greatly in mean IGTFEE through the sample period. Most eastern coastal provinces had relatively high IGTFEE, while most inland provinces had undesirable IGTFEE. Eastern region had far better IGTFEE than central and western regions, while central and western regions had similar IGTFEEs. Through kernel density estimation (KDE), it is learned that the kernel density curves of IGTFEE in most years have only one peak, and moved to the left with the elapse of time, revealing the declining trend of China's IGTFEE. The results of the Tobit model indicate that IGTFEE is greatly promoted by technological progress, opening-up, and environmental regulation, obviously suppressed by energy structure, and insignificantly promoted by human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A key measure of poverty alleviation is to enhance the overall ability of poor households. This research attempts to identify the influencing factors and empowering mechanism of participation in e-commerce. Firstly, a questionnaire survey was conducted among poor households in Mongolia, China. Based on the collected data, a structural equation model (SEM) was established and modified for the empowerment of rural e-commerce on the participating farmers and herdsmen. The results show that infrastructure factors (0.89), social network factors(0.491), cognitive factors (0.712) and resource endowment factors (0.394) have a significant impact on the participation of poor households in e-commerce; the participation of poor households in e-commerce has a significant effect on the improvement of human capital; online purchase and online sales both greatly promote human capital, and the latter exerts the greater impact (0.705); the indirect effect of the participation in e-commerce (2.198) is greater than the direct effect (0.790) between empowerment factors and human capital. The research results shed new light on the poverty alleviation through rural e-commerce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Linking the structures of endowment, investment, and the resultant changes in human welfare. • Focusing on investing in human capital, and its impact on structures of employment and productivity. • Investing in human capital will significantly improve people's welfare by extending life expectancy. • In 2030, average life expectancy will be extended by 0.91 years in the green future scenario. • Moving to a green development path will also increase the shares of green employment. • As pollutant emission fall, the labor force becomes healthier and more resilient, contributing to a rise in productivity in the economy. • Investing in human capital is the best path to expedite the green transformation. This paper analyzes the linkage between structures of endowment, investment, and resultant changes in employment, pollutant emission, and human welfare. Contrary to conventional wisdom, China's endowment structure has shifted toward human capital implying that its latent comparative advantage lies in the human capital–intensive sectors. We employ a System Dynamic model with 10 subsectors, and simulate the impact of changes in investment on changes in pollutant emission, employment, and welfare. Results show that, first, shifting investment to human capital would significantly improve people's welfare by reduced pollution and extended life expectancy. In 2030, average life expectancy will be extended by 0.91 years. Second, human capital–intensive green sectors will expand rapidly, generating a large number of green jobs. A policy implication of this paper is that shifting investment toward human capital can expedite green transformation, improve the resilience of the labor force, and contribute to a rise in human welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the labor market returns to schooling in China during 2010–2015 by using two rounds of the China General Social Survey data. While our OLS estimates based on Mincerian earnings function confirm the importance of human capital in China's post-reform economy, they highlight a number of important changes in the labor market performance of educated workers. The average returns to schooling have declined during the study period, albeit modestly. The fall in returns is much larger in urban locations, coastal regions and among women (from 10.4%, 9.9% and 7.8% in 2010 to 8.3%, 7.8% and 6.3% in 2015 respectively). Workers with university diplomas and good English language skills continue to enjoy a high wage return. These findings are unchanged regardless of model specifications and corrections for endogeneity bias using conventional as well as Lewbel instrumental variable approaches. We discuss the potential explanations for the observed changes and their policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significance of environmental quality for the movement of human capital and economic development is growing. This study utilizes the difference-in-difference (DID) approach to analyze the effects of the implementation of new ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) on economic development and investigate its underlying mechanism. The research indicates that the NAAQS promotes urban economic growth, and this impact tends to progressively intensify over time. According to the analysis of the mechanism, the NAAQS had a significant impact on the city's human capital, which in turn contributed to economic growth. The analysis of heterogeneity indicates that the NAAQS promotes economic growth primarily in the eastern region, in large and medium-sized cities, and in cities where the government pays more attention to environmental protection. This study offers a new explanation for how environmental information disclosure (EID) promotes economic growth and provides policy enlightenment for local governments on how to increase talent inflow. [Display omitted] • New ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) are taken as a quasi-natural experiment. • The generalized multiperiod DID method is used in this paper. • NAAQS can promote economic growth. • Human capital structure plays an intermediary role between NAAQS and economic growth. • The policy effects are affected by the heterogeneity across cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Examining the problem of capital allocation efficiency in China from the perspective of air pollution. • Constructing a new indicator of capital allocation efficiency, measured using actual capital productivity over potential capital productivity. • Constructing a mechanism for air pollution to affect capital allocation efficiency in terms of innovation activities and human capital accumulation channels. • The effect of air pollution on capital allocation efficiency and its heterogeneity are empirically analyzed. As China seeks to transition to a high-quality economic development model, improving its capital allocation efficiency serves as a means to revitalize the capital stock and facilitate a shift from an investment-driven growth approach to an innovation-driven one. By exploring the relationship between air pollution and capital allocation efficiency, new avenues for promoting high-quality economic development can be identified. This paper develops a theoretical analysis framework that posits the mechanisms by which air pollution affect capital allocation efficiency through innovation activities and human capital channels. Based on the data from prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019, this paper introduces an innovative method to evaluate capital allocation efficiency. Further, using a panel two-way fixed-effects model to examine the impact of air pollution on capital allocation efficiency and its mechanisms. The findings show that ① the intensification of air pollution reduces capital allocation efficiency and the above findings pass the robustness tests. ② The results of heterogeneity analysis show that there is significant heterogeneity in the effect of air pollution on capital allocation efficiency. The intensification of the air pollution significantly inhibits capital allocation efficiency in inland areas, small and medium-scale cities, after 2013, and in areas with high foreign economic dependence. ③ The results of mechanism analysis shows that the intensification of the air pollution will inhibit capital allocation efficiency by suppressing innovation activities and human capital accumulation channels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explore the relationship between sibling sex composition, gender inequality and girls' locus of control. Among girls aged 10–15 in China, girls with brothers are lower in internal locus of control than girls with sisters, i.e., they believe that success depends more on external forces than on their own effort. We ascribe it to parental son preferences based on evidence about parents' evaluations of the importance of continuing the family lineage and the stringency level of fertility policies. The channel is that parents allocate fewer productive resources, e.g., after-school tutoring and parental school involvement, to girls when they have sons. Our findings highlight that gender inequality may cause negative impacts on girls' locus of control. • We study how sibling sex composition affects girls' locus of control. • Girls with brothers have lower internal locus of control than girls with no brothers. • Girls with brothers receive fewer productive resources when their parents have sons. • Girls' internal locus of control predicts their human capital accumulation. • Boys' internal locus of control is not affected by having brothers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, information and communication technology (ICT) innovation has been an essential part of China's strategy for achieving low carbon and improving carbon emission efficiency (CEE). This research innovatively calculates ICT innovation indexes for 30 Chinese regions and 12 ICT innovation indexes from 2007 to 2019 across 30 regions in China. Based on this, this study investigates how ICT innovation affects CEE from a digital technology innovation perspective by applying the system-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) dynamic technique. This study also explores the mediating effect of industrial structure upgrading and R&D intensity and the threshold effect of human capital. The results show that ICT innovation facilitates CEE improvement, with High-speed network and Large-capacity and high-speed storage technologies being the main contributors to green technology. ICT innovation indirectly improves the CEE level by enhancing the industrial structure and R&D intensity. Additionally, the impact of ICT innovation on CEE tends to grow when human capital quality rises. The results of this paper will benefit policymakers in developing emission reduction plans from an ICT innovation perspective. • This study explores the impact of ICT innovation on carbon emission efficiency (CEE) in China. • We evaluate the carbon mitigation effects of 12 ICT innovations. • ICT innovation effectively promotes the level of CEE. • ICT innovation indirectly increases CEE by upgrading the industrial structure and increasing R&D intensity. • A human capital threshold can effectively strengthen the link between ICT innovation and CEE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human capital plays an important role in preventing the intergenerational transmission of poverty. The study aims to examine in detail how human capital impacts the intergenerational poverty transmission in China based on nationwide rural household survey. The research results are: (1) the improvement of individual human capital significantly reduces the risk of intergenerational poverty transmission in rural China; (2) in comparison to individual educational level, parents' educational level may not effectively decrease the risk of intergenerational poverty transmission; (3) the impact from human capital on the risk of intergenerational poverty transmission has relatively lower effectiveness on female than male in rural China; (4) human capital of Western China area generates more impact on reducing the risk of intergenerational poverty transmission than that of the central and eastern regions. In approach to improve the role of human capital in preventing intergenerational poverty transmission, the following policy implications should be considered, such as improving the rural education conditions and mechanism, encouraging self-improvement rather than parents dependency, and supporting rural female education. • Education may alter the status quo of the rural relative poverty in China. • To crawl out relative poverty, improving education is significantly effective. • Education benefits males more than females in rural China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas there is a large literature evaluating the impacts of education, most of the focus has been on getting to universal primary enrollment and understanding the returns to basic education; but it misses the major shifts toward higher education in many fast-growing parts of the developing world over the last 20 years. In this paper, I study the returns to higher education in China using the reinstatement of the National College Entrance Examination in 1977 as a natural experiment, investigating the causal impacts of higher education on later life outcomes and well-being. Through a combination of regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference methods, I find that cohorts that were more likely to complete high school and obtain a college education as a result of the reform were no more likely to be employed, but were more likely to have a high-socioeconomic (SES) occupation in their early 30s, and lesser of the same in their 40s. Cohorts with higher education work for fewer days in a week, and, on average, earn a higher monthly income by 56 percent in their late 40s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the labor reallocation effect can promote the transformation of the driving force of economic growth and enable high-quality development. Therefore, this study constructs a growth source model from the perspective of human capital, considering labor price distortion and time-varying factor elasticity to measure the effect of labor reallocation under the crossover of provincial industries and analyze the impact of labor reallocation on employment share. The relevant findings are threefold. Aoki (2012)) The distortion of labor price is the largest in the primary industry, followed by the tertiary and secondary industries. Bai and Liu (2018)) Measuring the labor reallocation effect from the perspective of human capital allocation reveals a 3.7 % overall loss of the effect under allocation distortion compared with that under effective allocation. Bakas et al. (2017)) In terms of industrial structure adjustment, compared with the labor share under effective allocation, that of the primary industry still requires a 0.25 reduction, and that of the secondary and tertiary industries should be reduced by 0.07 and 0.18, respectively. The research results provide valuable insights for Chinese policymakers to further improve the market economy system and adjust the industrial structure to optimize resource allocation and advance economic growth. • This paper relaxes the constant factor output elasticity hypothesis in the multi-sector general equilibrium model proposed by Aoki, and introduces the time-varying elastic production function model to re-measure the labor reallocation effect of industries in China's provinces. • Unlike the existing studies, which mostly measure the factor mismatch of provinces or industries, this paper measures the labor reallocation effect under the industrial intersection of China's provinces. • From the perspective of factor measurement, considering the heterogeneity of labor quality, the effect of labor reallocation is measured from the perspective of human capital allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study inputs human capital, an important parameter, into the model of carbon emission intensity (CI) that integrates the logarithmic mean divisia index (LMDI) and the production-theoretical decomposition analysis (PDA) while focusing on China's decarbonization, to understand the role of human capital on CO 2 emissions under the constraint of energy consumption. The human capital is decomposed into education and "learning by doing" for the analysis of the heterogeneous effects of the two on CO 2 emissions. The analysis of China and 30 of its provinces from 2000 to 2019 shows that the human capital substitution effect promoted CO 2 emissions reduction owing to an increase in the human capital–energy ratio. Regional decomposition reveals the significance of this finding in the eastern, central, and western regions, which shows that the rapid growth of human capital in these three regions has a substitution effect on energy consumption, thereby reducing CO 2 emissions. Further results show that education and "learning by doing" had different effects on CO 2 emissions, with education mainly causing CO 2 emission reductions and "learning by doing" mainly causing CO 2 emission increases in the eastern and western regions; both education and "learning by doing" reduced CO 2 emission in the central region. This finding indicates that higher levels of education result in the effective accumulation of human capital, thereby facilitating CO 2 emissions reduction through energy substitution. • Human capital is input into the LMDI-PDA model for carbon emissions decomposition. • Human capital is the driving factor in carbon emissions decreasing. • The human capital is decomposed into education and "learning by doing". • Education and "learning by doing" have different impacts on carbon emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• SBM model is more effective in estimating carbon efficiency indicator. • Resource-based cities' carbon efficiency is high in the east and low in the west. • DID model verifies policy effect of CECDA on resource-based cities' carbon efficiency. • Resource, industry and human are key factors affecting the mechanism of policy effect. • There is regional heterogeneity in the policy effects of CECDA. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the construction of ecological civilization demonstration areas (CECDA) on the carbon efficiency (CE) of resource-based cities (RCs) and to understand its mechanism. The CE indicator of 114 prefecture-level RCs in China was measured from 2004 to 2018 using the Slack Based Measure (SBM) model. We found that the index showed an overall fluctuating upward trend followed by a fallback phenomenon. Spatially, it exhibits an east-high and west-low distribution pattern. In an empirical study using a multi-period difference-in-differences (DID) model and balanced panel data, we found that CECDA significantly contributes to CE. Resource industry dependence is an important transmission factor of CECDA affecting CE, and the rationalization of the industrial structure level and advanced human capital level are important regulating factors. Simultaneously, compared with the central and northeastern regions, the impact of CECDA on CE is more evident in the eastern and western regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of international specialization has evolved from "intra-industry" to "intra-product," resulting in the establishment of value chains that traverse all participating nations. However, it might lead to the "lock-in low-value" effect of global value chains (GVCs) and the consequential "pollution shelter" effect, which have both hindered the green transformation of the economy. Rather than solely focusing on promoting participation in GVCs, this paper seeks to expand its purview to include national value chains (NVCs) based on endogenous resource integration, with a focus on constructing and nurturing NVCs to enhance regional green economy performance index (GEPI). We find that improving NVCs positions can increase regional GEPI, while GVCs and NVCs participation inhibit GEPI. Moreover, the impact of GVCs and NVCs positions and participation on GEPI presents significant and spatiotemporal heterogeneities. Finally, the mechanism analysis demonstrates that GVCs positions increase human capital investment and NVCs positions increase the rationalization of the industrial structure, promoting green economy performance. Meanwhile, China's GVCs and NVCs participation increase the industrial proportion, which is not conducive to improving green economy performance. • Quantifying China's international trade's environmental effects through value chain specialization. • NVCs positions can strengthen the effect of the green economy performance. • Participation in value chain displays an adverse impact on green economy performance. • Investigating the heterogeneities of green economy performance along GVCs and NVCs position and participation. • Exploring channels through which of value chain specialization affect green economy performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Widely regarded as an efficient source to finance innovative activities and sustainable growth, venture capital has achieved a remarkable development since the 1980s. By employing a unique city-level panel dataset, this study first illustrates the locational dynamics of venture capital investment in China, while empirically investigating major socio-economic drivers of China's venture capital activities. We find non-trivial spatial spillovers of venture capital activities featured by regional imbalance, and identify government intervention, exit opportunity, human capital accumulation, new invention and transport infrastructure as five major influential factors for the formation and evolvement of local venture capital activities. Finally, we show the critical role of international venture capital and domestic institutional factors in shaping the venture capital industry in China. The study deepens the understanding of distributional and operational patterns on China's venture capital market, and raises multiple implications for entrepreneurs and policy makers on the efficient planning of venture capital activities in large developing economies. Image 1 • Venture capital activities in China are spatially dependent featured by regional imbalance. • Venture capital activities in China are jointly driven by government interventions and market forces. • International venture capital investment promotes the development of domestic venture capital industry. • Determinants of venture capital activities possess stronger effects in coastal regions relative to inland regions. • Venture capital as a form of sustainable finance affects innovation and cleaner production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, it is found that environmental regulation is an important mechanism that trade openness affects the level of human capital. The author established a theoretical framework to analyze the influence of trade openness on the level of human capital and adopted the system GMM to test it, using Chinese provincial data over the period 1995–2015. The empirical results show that environmental regulation has a long-term U-shaped effect on the level of human capital, while the current environmental regulation in China is conducive to improving the level of human capital. Furthermore, the promotion of human capital level can also increase the possibility of improving environmental regulation, which is conducive to the internal formation and positive interaction between human capital and environmental regulation. The research further enriches the theory of sustainable development of environment and economy. It provides theoretical support for China and developing countries with similar economic and technological levels to actively implement more stringent environmental policies in the context of trade openness. Image 108550 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We exploit the quasi-random spatial and temporal nature of ground tremors to evaluate the long-term impact of the 1988 earthquake on educational outcomes among affected children of rural Nepal. We employ difference-in-differences research design to show that infants born in districts severely affected by the earthquake are 13.8% less likely to complete middle school and 10% less likely to complete high school. Our findings demonstrate that children belonging to high caste groups mitigate the negative environmental shock in the long run. However, infants belonging to low caste groups are 17.6% less likely to complete middle school and 11.9% less likely to complete high school. We also find that male infants exposed to a severe earthquake perform significantly better than their female counterparts, suggesting prospects of gender bias in a patriarchal society. Together, these results provide strong evidence that earthquakes lead to deterioration of human capital in a developing country setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Exploring the effect of corporate digitalization on environmental performance. • Mechanism is explored from technological progress, governance, human capital, and financing conditions. • Corporate digitalization significantly improves environmental performance. • The positive innovation effect is heterogenous by corporate ownership, scale, capital intensity, pollution, financing constraints and marketization. • The promotion effects are achieved by technological progress, governance improvement, human capital accumulation, and financing cost reduction. This study systematically analyzes the relationship between enterprise digitalization and environmental benefits using data from Chinese listed enterprises from 2015 to 2020. Corporate digitalization significantly improves environmental performance, which holds even after several robustness tests. Heterogeneous analysis indicates the promotion effects of digital transformation on environmental performance are more evident in state-owned enterprises, large enterprises, capital-intensive enterprises, highly polluting enterprises, enterprises with high financing constraints, and enterprises in low-marketization areas. We also explore four potential mechanisms and find that the environmental benefits of digital transformation may be due to technological progress, governance improvement, human capital accumulation, and financing cost reduction. This study offers new evidence for evaluating the sustainability of digital transformation and improving the environmental performance of enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A better understanding of farmers' energy-saving behaviors can help policy-makers to formulate effective energy policies to reduce energy consumption in rural areas. This study explores the impacts of livelihood capital on farmers' energy-saving behaviors in Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, China. A total of 471 questionnaires were obtained from randomly sampled households. The results show that there are differences between the implementation of different types of energy-saving behaviors. Farmers' livelihood capital plays a significant role in implementing energy-saving behaviors. Specifically, natural capital and human capital have a significantly negative effect on the implementation of energy-saving behaviors. Physical capital and social capital are conducive to implement energy-saving behaviors. The effect of financial capital varies with different energy-saving behaviors. The findings of this study can contribute to the existing body of knowledge about determinants of farmers' energy-saving behaviors by confirming the role of livelihood capital. The empirical results provide a reference for stakeholders involved in strengthening rural residents' energy-saving behaviors in developing countries like China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid development of agriculture mechanization and the agro–industry in China (considered as a large agricultural country) has led to a substantial increase in energy consumption and CO 2 emissions. Majority of existing studies usually explore the driving forces of the sector's CO 2 emissions using the averaging method. However, data distribution of economic variables is often non–normal, with the tail having hidden important information. According to the average annual CO 2 emissions, this paper divides China's 30 provinces into six quantile grades, and uses the quantile regression method to investigate the driving forces of CO 2 emissions under high, medium, and low emission levels. The results show that the effects of economic growth on CO 2 emissions in the upper 90th and 75th–90th quantile provinces are higher than in the 50th–75th, 25th–50th, 10th–25th and lower 10th quantile provinces due to the differences in fixed–asset investment and agricultural processing. The impact of energy efficiency in the upper 90th, 75th–90th, and 50th–75th quantile provinces are stronger than those in the 25th–50th, 10th–25th, and lower 10th quantile provinces because of the huge difference in R&D funding and R&D personnel investments. The effect of urbanization in the higher 90th quantile provinces is higher than in the other quantile provinces, owing to the differences in the level of agricultural mechanization and human capital accumulation. Similarly, financial capacity has the largest impact on CO 2 emissions in the upper 90th quantile provinces in all quantile provinces. However, the impact of industrialization in the upper 90th quantile provinces is lower than in other quantile provinces. Thus, the heterogeneous effects of the driving forces should be taken into consideration when discussing CO 2 emissions reduction in China's agriculture sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the long-run effects of mass political repression on economic performance? Using an original county-level dataset from Maoist China, we demonstrate a strong and robust negative relationship exists between the scale of repression of intellectuals in the Anti-Rightist Campaign (ARC) in 1957–58 and economic productivity decades later. This fall in economic output is caused by the loss of already scarce human capital resulting from the violent political campaign. Until at least 2000, significant and robust negative correlations exist between the percentage of victims in a county and its populations’ level of educational achievement and economic performance. By demonstrating the negative relationship between the state’s purposeful destruction of human capital for political reasons and long-run economic growth, we are able to add China to a growing body of research on the long-run deleterious effects of state-sponsored political repression against intellectuals. Using China’s ARC as an example, this study is the first to use quantitative methods to demonstrate the often-overlooked long-term negative economic effects of political repression under authoritarian regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study identifies three groups of job seekers in terms of the channels used to search for jobs: the formal channel involving only official procedures to obtain a job, the informal channel using only social contacts to obtain a job, and the joint channel leveraging both social contacts and official procedures. The analysis of a national sample survey of China shows that joint channel users, due to their relatively higher level of social capital, not only make more job search attempts but also obtain higher income than formal channel users. Meanwhile, joint channel users, because of their relative advantages in both human capital and social capital, not only make more job attempts but also obtain higher income than informal channel users. The two comparisons offer a new strategy to test the causal role social capital plays in labour market success, regardless of whether social capital is exogenous or endogenous to human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to validate the mediating process of “psychological capital-work engagement-service behavior”, and examines the moderated mediating effect of service climate. By questionnaire survey, this study investigated 375 flight attendants of China Airlines based in Taiwan, and validated the hypotheses through hierarchical regression analysis. The results showed that flight attendants with high psychological capital tend to show more work engagement and better service behavior. Moreover, work engagement is the mediator between psychological capital and service behavior. According to the moderated mediating result, the impact of service climate in the mediating process is originated from the positive relationship of service climate with work engagement and service behavior. In other words, the mediating the effect of work engagement changes with service climate. Finally, based on the research findings, this study proposes managerial implications as reference for internal marketing of airlines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brain drain has long been a concern. However, little is known about the brain drain within a country. China is a developing country which is experiencing not only overseas brain drain but also a domestic cross-regional and cross-departmental flow. In this study, we investigate the flow of high-level talent (HLT) given the background of constructing world-class universities and disciplines (WCUDs) in China and its dynamic mechanisms, and then we discuss its potential implications. The results show that over the past four decades, eastern China has been a net-inflow area, and the northeastern and midwestern regions saw a net outflow. The eastern region shows more internal regional flow. Furthermore, a large amount of HLT has flowed from scientific research institutes to colleges and universities (CUs). Regional socioeconomic gaps, imperfect systems and inadequate management are the main reasons for the flow of HLT. Regional HLT flow is not as serious as expected, but irrational flow will probably aggravate the already interregional disparity in educational resources and human capital accumulation as well as regional unbalanced development. Therefore, some measures should be taken to fight irrational high-level talent flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The case study in this paper examines the contribution of scholarship programmes provided by the Chinese government in improving human capital in the fields of science, technology, and innovation in Tanzania. The case study constitutes a survey of 85 Tanzanians who have received training in China, and interviews with 13 individuals including some of the surveyed trainees, scholarship administrators, and other stakeholders. While critical comments were raised, the trainees in our sample were largely positive about the Chinese training experiences. Besides the direct transfer of skills and exposure to China’s modernity, the indirect outcome of technology transfer has come about through the importation of equipment and technical literature. However efforts to transfer and apply acquired knowledge have been regularly impeded by structural barriers including cross-cultural communication problems, differences in attitude, and the fact that in several cases Tanzania does not have the capacity to absorb some of the advanced Chinese technologies taught in the courses. Two-way communication is needed in order to inform and adapt the Chinese government training programmes to the specific needs of the recipient African economies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many studies have shown that high-speed rail (HSR) can reshape the spatial pattern of economic geography. However, there needs to be more logical argumentation and rigorous empirical design on the paths and mechanisms involved. This paper considers the impact of the border effect on HSR links and innovation clusters from the perspective of inter-regional collaborative innovation. It provides a logical and compact theoretical framework for HSR to reshape the pattern of the economic geography of innovation and then give a data-based empirical test. Using a benchmark sample of 285 cities in China from 2001 to 2020, the paper empirically examines the impact of HSR links on collaborative innovation and its mechanism in different border samples. The results show that HSR can break through various types of regional borders, shorten the tangible and intangible distances between regions, and increase cross-regional collaborative innovation through three primary mechanisms: market integration, matching human capital, and activating innovation activities. The paper also inspires how to improve collaborative innovation in regions with economic, cultural, policy, and administrative borders in addition to traditional geographical borders and verifies the negative superposition effect of regional borders to provide adequate references for policymakers. • The HSR can provide opportunities for innovative cooperation between cities. • The HSR between cities breaks through regional boundaries. • Study heterogeneous boundary effects based on the theory of the center-periphery. • Research on the three main micro mechanisms of "sharing, learning and matching". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the new era, one of the keys to promoting sustainable economic growth is to give full play to the main role of migrants in innovation and entrepreneurship, and improve the overall employment quality of society. Based on the 2017 China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) data, this paper attempts to use the reference group theory, self-motivation theory, human capital theory, and risk preference theory to provide the theoretical framework. Then, the relationship between immigrants' intention and entrepreneurship is examined by using PSM, Heckman-two stage model and IV method. The results clearly show that settlement intention is negatively associated with migrant entrepreneurship for both necessity-based entrepreneurship and opportunity-based entrepreneurship. Further study shows that this negative effect is achieved by changing migrants' human capital and their risk preference. The heterogeneity analysis shows that the negative effect of settlement intention on migrant entrepreneurship is among those migrants who are between 25 and 45 years old, who are female migrants, who have rural hukou , and who live in central and western China. In a sense, this study identifies a side effect of settlement intention that sublimates and complements the theory of migrant entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corruption affects corporate investment and diverts resources away from growth-improving factors, including R&D activities and human capital, thereby lowering productivity. Using a time-varying difference-in-differences approach, we identified the causal effect of China's anti-corruption campaign on corporate productivity during 2011–2021. The findings uncovered that China's anti-corruption campaign increased corporate productivity by approximately 18.43%. Results from heterogeneity analysis showed that the promoting effect was particularly significant in non-state-owned firms, firms without political ties, and firms in areas with weak legal systems. Additional mechanism analysis revealed that firm productivity could be significantly boosted by improving resource allocation efficiency and advancing technological innovation. • Anti-corruption campaign significantly affects corporate productivity. • The impacts of anti-corruption campaign on corporate productivity exist heterogeneity. • Anti-corruption campaign affects corporate productivity by improving resource allocation efficiency. • Anti-corruption campaign affects corporate productivity by advancing technological innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With smart city (SMC) initiatives proliferating worldwide since the 2000s, the theoretical debates around SMC development have evolved from a technology-centric approach to a more human-centric approach. Investing in human capital and improving quality of life have become the major elements of SMC rhetoric. However, few studies have examined the approaches adopted in real-world SMC policymaking or why different cities follow different approaches. We statistically examine the factors behind the human-centricity of SMC policies through a text analysis of policy documents from 341 Chinese prefectural cities published between 2009 and 2020. We find divergent approaches to SMC development across these Chinese prefectural cities. Unexpectedly, the more economically developed and dense cities tend to be more technology-centric in SMC policymaking. Cities at the initial and advanced stages of SMC development also prefer a technology-centric approach, albeit with very different underlying mechanisms. These findings suggest the need for a greater prioritization of human capital in SMC creation in developed cities and for context-specific interpretations of technology-centricity for cities at different SMC development stages. • We measure the human-centricity of smart city (SMC) development through Natural Language Processing on policy documents. • Economically developed cities are more active in SMC policymaking. • More developed and denser cities tend to be more technology-centric in SMC development. • A city's SMC development stage closely predicts its degree of human-centricity. • Cities at initial and advanced stages of SMC development are more technology-centric, but with different rationales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]