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With the diversification of users' energy demands, accurate load forecasting is an important prerequisite for optimal scheduling and economic operation of the system, but a single‐load forecasting method cannot effectively predict multi‐energy loads accurately. Therefore, this paper proposes a multi‐energy load forecasting method based on bidirectional long short‐term memory (BiLSTM) and parallel feature extraction networks. Firstly, residual network and convolutional block attention module were used to extract the spatial coupling features of multi‐energy load data. Secondly, BiLSTM is used to capture the temporal features and long‐term dependencies in the load data, and the spatial coupling features are fused to obtain non‐linear prediction results. Finally, the non‐linear prediction results and the linear prediction results obtained by using multi‐energy linear regression were linearly superimposed to obtain the final prediction results. In this paper, IES load data of Tempe Campus of Arizona State University was used to verify and compared with several existing methods, and the results showed that Weighted Mean Absolute Percentage Error decreased by more than 20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To attain a thorough examination of the dynamic interaction mechanism between China's utilization of water resources and its economic and social development, this paper innovatively introduces a Western theoretical framework within an Eastern context. The aim is to quantify the process of decoupling and synergistic evolution from 2006 to 2020. Decoupling signifies achieving economic growth while reducing resource use or mitigating environmental impacts, whereas synergy denotes enhancing economic efficiency while contributing to environmental protection. This paper employs the Tapio elastic coefficient method to construct a decoupling model. A collaborative model, based on the entropy weight Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) and weighted average methods, also assesses the organization and coordination of subsystems within the complex water‐economic‐social system. The findings reveal a strong decoupling between China's water resource management and economic and social systems, as indicated by a consistently negative decoupling index. Similarly, the economic system exhibits a degree of inefficiency influenced by factors like economic cyclicality and resource allocation. In contrast, the social system experienced a decline, particularly during the pandemic (2019–2020), leading to a social instability. This study provides valuable policy formulation and sustainable development insights, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of the intricate dynamics between water utilization, economy, and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of issues of development and modernisation of the existing structure of economy is central to the scientific activity of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The purpose of the study is to consider the trends in the development of the economic system in the territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The study used methods of analysis and synthesis of information, the comparative method, induction and deduction and analysis of research papers, which is relevant to the subject matter. The conclusions were drawn that the modernisation and development of the economy of Kazakhstan is a complex step‐by‐step process, which includes: mastering the manufacturing of modern products; renovation of production equipment; organic integration into the latest world innovation processes; requalification of people. The practical significance of the study is that it can be used by theorists and practitioners to investigate the development of the economic system in the Republic of Kazakhstan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy systems are rapidly transforming towards sustainability, involving significant realignments in social, economic and political systems. New actors such as communities are seeking empowerment to engage in transformations. A range of actors has applied the concept of empowerment in energy transformations to signify different ideas for how communities can engage with energy. As such, its meaning is shaped by ambiguities, uncertainties and contestations. Traditionally, a neoliberal discourse has framed empowerment in energy, resulting in a hollowing of the term and questions around what it means, to whom and in which contexts. This paper contributes to this debate by unpacking empowerment in energy transformations in the context of community energy initiatives. Building on interviews and multicriteria mapping techniques, this paper concludes that all energy stakeholders prefer the strongest options for empowerment. However, empowerment is a co‐produced phenomenon revealing a role for all stakeholders in its cultivation. Embracing diverse understandings of empowerment has implications for how governance can facilitate community empowerment in energy transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructures from different time periods, installed for different purposes in often discordant political and economic systems, function alongside one another in contemporary cities. While infrastructures attracted a great deal of attention in geographical research, the "East" of Europe has still largely been left out, as the studies mostly focused on the global North and the global South. This paper, thus, takes on two challenges by intersecting an infrastructural lens with the re‐conceptualisation of post‐socialism. First, following calls from comparative urbanism and the postcolonial turn in urban studies and geography to work beyond usual suspects, the paper expands the territorial scope of infrastructure research. Second, the paper takes the critical edge of the aforementioned calls by offering new ways of attending to infrastructures through relations to the (socialist) past. Taking a threefold approach of expanding, learning, and challenging from a more‐than‐North/South perspective, this paper analyses post‐socialist infrastructuring by highlighting inequalities, such as the introduction of individual measuring of heat, using green spaces as boosterist urban governing, and turning transport to a consumer good. Instead of centralising the present or the "Western" best practice, the paper investigates to what extent it is possible to take elements of the (socialist) past and develop them into forward‐looking measures. The paper shows the need to incorporate questions of social justice and equity – perspectives which were more central for infrastructural provision under socialism – into the ways in which infrastructures are planned, made, and used today. While infrastructures have attracted a great deal of attention in geographical research, the "East" of Europe has still largely been left out, as studies have mostly focused on the global North and the global South. This paper intersects an infrastructural lens with the re‐conceptualisation of post‐socialism. Taking a threefold approach of expanding, learning, and challenging from a more‐than‐North/South perspective, this paper analyses post‐socialist infrastructuring by highlighting inequalities, such as the introduction of individual measuring of heat, using green spaces as boosterist urban governing, and turning transport to a consumer good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As population increases land rises in value and this causes greater and greater payments to land owners without any contribution to production by them This wrongly deprives producers of increasing amounts of income that they produced and are entitled to As the process proceeds, it threatens the viability of capitalism itself as it lowers profits for the prime movers in the economic system Home ownership in the US is becoming increasingly difficult for young people as the price of land keeps rising Economic progress has been very fast in countries that tax land and seek its equitable distribution and is lagging in those that do not. The high unemployment rates in Europe are related to this unfair distribution of income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many natural and economic systems are managed to deliver the highest benefits to society but are subject to regime shifts. We specifically consider the variability of the size of the system itself as a key driver of a regime shift. We address the question of how the optimal management of these systems should vary with its size. Put simply, certain management options might work when the system is of a given size, while others might be preferred when the system has grown or shrunk. In this paper, we develop a model that allows us to analyse the effect of the size of the system on its optimal management. We apply this model to a case of water pollution in a reservoir/lake that varies in size over time: sometimes the lake is deep and sometimes it is shallow. Numerical simulations were conducted to compare optimal management of the reservoir with and without explicitly modelling its size variation. The findings show that the overall social costs of optimally managing pollution are significantly smaller when the variability in size is taken into account. This is due to differences in the timing and magnitude of the optimal control. The key implication is that the variability of the size of a system should be explicitly considered in this type of management problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a widespread agreement that the current linear economic system is unsustainable due to the physical boundaries of our planet and must be replaced by a circular one, that is, by a circular economy (CE). Previous studies have theoretically proposed that eco‐innovations (EIs), or innovations that reduce the environmental impacts of consumption and production processes, are a key element to improve the circular use of resources. However, the analysis of the drivers of such a transition to a CE through EI, particularly at the micro‐level of firms, has not received attention in the past. The aim of this paper is to cover this gap in the literature. It quantitatively analyses the role of influencing factors (drivers and barriers) in that relationship, with a focus on the company's organisational ('soft') factors, rooted in organisational culture and strategy. With the help of data collected through a survey of Spanish small and medium‐sized firms in the industrial sector, a regression‐based moderation analysis is carried out. Therefore, four moderation models were defined based on organisational factors derived from the previous literature (sustainability, future, stakeholder and learning/knowledge orientation in firms. The results suggest that, indeed, two of those factors (a high level of sustainability and knowledge orientation) are particularly relevant drivers in the transition to the CE through EI. Thus, if the aim of policy makers and corporate decision makers is to increase the circularity of the economy or their firms, policies and measures should be targeted at these two factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building a green and healthy economic system and achieving high‐quality economic growth have long been the development goals pursued by the Chinese government. Under the local government competition system, coordinating the relationship between economic growth and ecological sustainability is a decisive factor for China's high‐quality development. As a former state planned economy, China inherited a legacy of setting economic growth targets at various levels of government. This paper analyzes the relationship between economic growth targets and ecological efficiency by using panel data models and spatial econometric techniques. Moreover, the mediating effect model and dynamic threshold effect model are used to study their influence mechanism and the possible nonlinear relationship. The results indicate that there is an inverted U‐shaped relationship between economic growth targets and ecological efficiency. Optimizing industrial structure and R&D investment can improve regional ecological efficiency. The economic growth targets in neighboring regions have a "U"‐shaped relationship with local ecological efficiency. The mechanism test results suggest that economic growth targets affect ecological efficiency by influencing financial development, foreign direct investment, infrastructure investment, environmental regulation, and technological innovation. The impact of economic growth targets on ecological efficiency shows a significant threshold effect when economic growth targets, industrial structure, R&D levels, financial development, foreign direct investment, infrastructure investment, and environmental regulation are at different threshold values. Therefore, to promote regional healthy competition and ecological efficiency, the government should formulate scientific and reasonable economic growth goals and improve the official evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, companies found in international protocols and standards an alternative source of normative guidance to operatively implement sustainability policies at an organisational level. The ever‐increasing adoption of these multi‐faceted policies and guidelines co‐occurs with a more proactive and voluntaristic attitude towards CSR implementation by companies. Born as a kind of soft corporate law to reinforce a regulatory answer to sustainability issues, today, CSR due diligence is becoming a central pillar of the transition of the economic system towards a great level of sustainable development. The paper presents the results of an interventionist research carried out by researchers in collaboration with the European Parliament, aimed at developing a normative resolution on the prominent role of CSR due diligence and its accountability. Through the exploration of the different state‐of‐the‐art of European companies on CSR due diligence, findings suggest that there is considerable room for improvement in CSR due diligence that can be reached through a normative intervention. In addition, the paper contributes to the development of the literature on interventionist research carried out by business scholars, focusing on academia‐industry‐institutions relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the multiscale linkage between one of the main stock markets in the Arab region (Tadawul All Share Index, TASI) and two foreign markets among its major partners (Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) and Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE)). A set of wavelet‐based multifractal and cross‐analysis tools are used to recognize signs of clustering or scattering between these markets in the time–frequency space. The experiment is designed to include a noteworthy period of instability in the financial sector along by a high recession in the global economic system. The results indicate that most cross‐correlations corresponding to the highest wavelet detail are statistically significant, especially for central lead–lag coefficients. At the highest frequency bands, significance is rejected for most cross‐correlations, thus providing investors with various short‐term investment replacements and portfolio diversification openings. Over the crisis period, cross‐correlations take a skewed distribution, which proves that foreign indexes have a higher predictive power for TASI's time series. Furthermore, the interdependence TASI–DJI is confirmed through several periods and at various frequencies, whereas the TASI–FTSE nexus was inclined to be slightly less important, particularly in short‐run horizons. Another surprising result is that in the midst of the crisis, while high and continuous cross‐correlations were expected, on a particular frequency band, we noted a significant dissociation between the Saudi index and the two international indexes. These findings would offer investors in Saudi Arabia new insights and tools for an increasingly globalized investment world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine Predator Algorithm (MPA) is an optimization algorithm inspired by the behavior of predator and prey to catch their own food. MPA is simple and easy to implement. To further improve the performance of MPA, this paper proposes a Multigroup Marine Predator Algorithm (MGMPA). The multigroup mechanism is to divide the initial population into several independent groups. These groups generate the top predator and the Elite matrix based on different strategies and share information after a fixed iteration. Above strategies include the maximum of the same group, the average of the same group, the maximum of different groups and the average of different groups. To verify its performance, the paper compares MGMPA with some classic algorithms such as Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Parallel Particle Swarm Optimization (PPSO), Slap Swarm Algorithm (SSA), and Marine Predator Algorithm (MPA). In addition, the proposed MGMPA is also applied to solve Economic Load Dispatch problem (ELD). The experimental results show that the proposed MGMPA has significant advantages under the CEC2013 suite and obtains the minimum cost of power system operation and the maximum economic benefits in the application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The presence of cycles characterizes all economic systems, but economic cycles have differentiated spatial impacts. Some regions have broader cycles with respect to the country, while others tend to be less responsive to shocks and hence have narrower cycles. Being exposed to broader cycles, that is, greater volatility, may increase the strain on a regional economic system. This paper investigates the different responsiveness to cyclical forces and volatility of regions in the long run. It does so by using quarterly employment data for the Nuts2 Italian regions over almost 40 years before and during the period 1978–2016. Explored in particular are the cross‐regional variations in employment volatility and the reasons for the patterns observed, as well as whether they have changed the following different macroeconomic policy regimes. The paper identifies the break dates of different regimes, and these regime changes will be related to policy modifications, such as the implementation of the European Monetary Union. The determinants of this regional volatility appear to be quite stable, so that the changes in volatility are explained by how these determinants have changed overtime and how they are unevenly distributed in space. In particular, the lagging regions of the country suffer, in addition to lower production and income, from higher volatility due to a structure which is weaker and more unstable. Volatility can hence be an additional issue for lagging regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with designing a unilateral tracking controller for the Switching Positive Linear Systems (SPLSs). Positive systems are widespread, and most biological, economic systems, and so on, with nonnegative variables, belong to this class of systems. System states are assumed partially unmeasurable; thus, a reduced‐order positive switching observer is utilized to improve the closed‐loop system response. Also, interval uncertainty is considered to provide a more practical result. In addition, a unilateral tracking controller is developed in this study. The unilateral tracking controller keeps the system and observer states in the same direction as the reference system and system output. Also, the unilateral tracking method avoids overshoot. System stability is presented in synchronous and asynchronous switching conditions. In asynchronous switching mode, controller switches have a time lag behind the system's switching. The switching time lag in asynchronous mode is assumed unknown with a known upper bound for each subsystem. The closed‐loop system's stability is guaranteed by utilizing multiple Lyapunov functions, and the Mode Dependent Average Dwell Time (MDADT) strategy. The designed unilateral tracking controller is developed to track a reference system. Also, sufficient conditions are provided to guarantee the L1‐gain performance of the closed‐loop system. Finally, an illustrative example is provided to demonstrate the proposed scheme's effectiveness compared with the foremost existing solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This special issue tackles two "trendy" topics much discussed at present by the community of scholars (and practitioners too) interested in regional economic development: systems and ecosystems. These metaphors have proved popular, and enduring, currently experiencing something of a buzz or moment in the sunshine. This special issue pushes them out of their comfort zone to explore contexts, elements, and approaches that have not yet been well explored in the literature to date. Contributions in this special issue cover a wide range of international cases and explore systemic perspectives on economic development placing institutional context and evolutionary dynamics at the core. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic dispatch (ED) problem is very important in the economics of power systems, and a suitable dispatch algorithm can help power plants save huge amounts of money and use energy efficiently. To ensure the economics of the power system dispatch strategy, this paper proposes a quantum‐behaved particle swarm improvement algorithm for solving the ED problem. First, the algorithm addresses the problem that the classical quantum‐behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) tends to be premature and falls into local optimality. We propose a method to calculate the mean best position by assigning weights to different particles, by adopting the idea of concentration selection in the immune concentration regulation mechanism, and designing a Weight‐Concentration selection probability function, so that those particles located outside the local optimal solution region but with smaller fitness value and better evolutionary trend can be retained. Second, to make the algorithm focus on global search at the beginning of the iteration and more focused search at the end to enhance the neighborhood search capability at the later stage, a decreasing function of the slope K in the Weight‐Concentration selection probability function is designed so that the influence of the weighting term on the calculation of the mean best position decreases gradually. The algorithm is evaluated with four power systems, and the results show that the overall performance of the improved algorithm is better than other algorithms in solving the ED problem in terms of minimum solution, convergence, and stability. © 2024 Institute of Electrical Engineer of Japan and Wiley Periodicals LLC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social scientists appeal to various "structures" in their explanations including public policies, economic systems, and social hierarchies. Significant debate surrounds the explanatory relevance of these factors for various outcomes such as health, behavioral, and economic patterns. This paper provides a causal account of social structural explanation that is motivated by Haslanger (2016). This account suggests that social structure can be explanatory in virtue of operating as a causal constraint, which is a causal factor with unique characteristics. A novel causal framework is provided for understanding these explanations–this framework addresses puzzles regarding the mysterious causal influence of social structure, how to understand its relation to individual choice, and what makes it the main explanatory (and causally responsible) factor for various outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the problems created by the high volume of subsidies and their significant share in government budgets, as well as, the failure to achieve the governmental goals in the field of subsidies, reform of the subsidies payment system has constantly been a concern of various governments. The welfare of society, especially the low‐income groups, has always been the focus of governments. To this end, subsidies are paid, particularly for basic goods, with the aim of decreasing prices and increasing purchasing power. However, since such payments are not targeted, a major part of subsidies will be granted to the upper classes and high‐income deciles. Therefore, targeting subsidies and paying attention to prioritizing costs in the household basket regarding subsidies payment will be an undeniable necessity. Currently, Iran faces fundamental problems in equitable management and distribution of subsidies, and the distribution of subsidies is extremely unfair. Given the importance of this issue and in order to provide a solution to reform the subsidy structure of Iran, present paper tries to examine the share of consuming expenditures in Iranian households using econometric methods and thus establish as a basis for ranking the costs. Accordingly, as a policy on targeting subsidies, we also aim to provide policymakers with better ways to implement policies. In general, the results indicate that targeting the subsidies in the household sector is different due to the different share of costs in the household budget and implementing the same approach to policy of targeting the subsidies is not appropriate for all households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the hype that has been given to culture as trigger and enhancer of local economic performance in the last 20 years, the cultural character of cities is considered as a strategic strength and opportunity that can favour the economic system of the entire regions in which the cities are located. According to this perspective, this paper explores the role of cultural participation, intended as individuals' involvement in cultural activities, in affecting regional output. Exploiting a regional production function and data from the Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (CCCM) provided by the European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC), the effect of urban cultural participation on the regional economy is econometrically investigated. Potential congestion effects possibly related to (excessive) cultural tourism are also examined. Cultural participation in Cultural and Creative Cities emerges as a strategic resource for development, although some congestion mechanisms could reduce its positive effect. Related policy implications are thoroughly discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unpredictable occurrence of natural disasters in modern power systems has significantly increased the attentions to the outage management of multi‐microgrid (MMG) systems. In this regard, a multi‐objective two‐stage outage management scheme is presented in this paper to protect undamaged microgrids (MGs) against load curtailment and minimize the curtailed loads simultaneously. Considering the importance of power system economic, this scheme is designed in a privacy‐preserved transactive energy (TE) market and enables all MGs to participate in outage management voluntarily. In detail, a DC optimization is autonomously operated in the first stage in each MG to supply its demand loads. Then, the second stage is designed to exchange the surplus power of the last stage with the damaged MGs. These voluntary power transactions are pre‐specified in contracts, adjusted between each MG and distributed system operator (DSO). Moreover, in this stage, the ADMM algorithm based on DC‐OPF has prepared a privacy protection platform and proved the results' accuracy. The presented test grid is the IEEE 34‐node test system and the numeric results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multi‐objective scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the particular geographies associated with the COVID‐19 outbreak through the lens of cities that are products of relational urbanisation. This includes small but highly globalised cities, such as financial centres or hot spots of politics and diplomacy, which are usually situated between different political, economic or cultural systems and their boundaries. These cities experienced strong growth due to internationalisation and a dedicated politics of extraversion. Our argument is that such places are unusually affected by the current lock‐down, illustrated by two empirical cases, the cities of Dublin, Ireland, and Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Both have experienced striking growth rates recently, but now suffer from disruption. Their development trajectories remain unclear, since a return to the 'old normal' seems unlikely, and the emergent 'new normal' calls for adaptation towards more state involvement in areas hitherto governed by the market. The paper addresses possible alternative geographies for both cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews developments since the 1970s in economic thinking about the design of taxes on business profit. It charts developments from proposals for a cash flow tax from the Meade Committee, to refinements of this in the form of an 'Allowance for Corporate Equity' and the levying of the cash flow tax in the country of destination. It describes how the development of international trade and investment has led to ever‐increasing problems in the international tax system with respect to economic efficiency, profit shifting, complexity and tax competition. It also identifies why a response to these problems requires a major reform in the location of taxation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social enterprises are seen as innovative towards solving societal problems, but little research exists on possible negative aspects, the so‐called dark sides. In this study, the emphasis is on dark sides of social entrepreneurship, how they are managed, and how systems thinking can contribute towards managing these effects. Dark sides of social entrepreneurship can take many forms, like unethical or insincere motives and unintended outcomes like the negative impact on the well‐being of founders and employees, but they are also a call for a critical reflection on the role of the government in society and the economic system social enterprises have to operate in. This paper aims to contribute to the dark side theory of social entrepreneurship by linking system archetypes to themes of dark side thereby stressing how management strategies act as balancing feedback loops to mitigate or prevent dark sides. A qualitative research was conducted by interviewing 21 respondents who play an important role in the world of social entrepreneurship in Belgium. The results show that dark sides of social enterprises manifest itself mostly in the form of trade‐offs and financial, business, and management related issues. Taking over the habits of profit‐oriented companies emerged as a new dark side element. Management strategies include anchoring goals, transparency, obtaining external views, changing the system, and above all reflection. The latter is an important first step to become aware of these issues to be able to change the negative dynamism of these dark sides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been 30 years since Central Asian '‐stan' countries, namely, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, declared their independence in 1991. The Republics have chosen various transition paths from centrally planned to the market‐based economic system. The research found that Central Asian leaders' protectionist policy, on top of the landlocked geographical environment, made trade costly, rendering these countries further isolated. Consequently, economic development slows down, unemployment increases and poverty rate extremes. Eventually, the isolated region (relatively, excluding Kazakhstan) is imprisoned in a low‐income trap and framed into a vicious circle. As a solution for tackling high‐trade costs in the region, this paper utilises the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) Computational General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling to simulate the impacts of implementing policy‐targeted scenarios. The study presents that tariff reduction/elimination and trade facilitation policies could flourish the region by bringing significant economic welfare and robust GDP growth. The trade facilitation scenarios impact the region's economy much more positively than do tariff liberalisation scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the link between offshoring and technical change measured by patent and total factor productivity in order to sort out the causality. It applies instrumental variable and matching approaches on a panel of more than 7000 Swedish manufacturing firms over the period 2001–2014, and identify offshoring‐related intermediate imports by the United Nations Broad Economic Categories system. Accounting for self‐selection and reverse causality, no impact of offshoring on TFP is found and only weak effect on patenting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic systems produce robust statistical patterns in key sate variables including prices and incomes. Statistical equilibrium methods explain the distributional properties of state variables as arising from specific institutional, environmental, and behavioral postulates. Two broad traditions have developed in political economy with the complementary aim of conceptualizing economic processes as irreducibly statistical phenomena but differ in their methodologies and interpretations of statistical explanation. These conceptual differences broadly mirror the methodological divisions in statistical mechanics, but also emerge in distinct ways when considered in the context of social sciences. This paper surveys the use of statistical equilibrium methods in analytical political economy and identifies the leading methodological and philosophical questions in this growing field of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Arctic currently holds a prominent place in global policy. It is a sparsely populated region experiencing major consequences of global change, such as climate change, shifting demographics, and globalization. These substantial and rapid changes create both opportunities and risks for economic development. Informed policy‐making for sustainable development in the Arctic will require an understanding of the specific structures of arctic economies, with a focus on the existence of mixed economies that contain both subsistence and market aspects, the interplay among different economic systems, and the broader contexts in which they function. This paper presents a conceptual framework that allows for comparative analysis of arctic economies within their institutional, social, cultural, and environmental contexts. Utilization of the conceptual framework will enable more complete system‐level analyses by helping to describe the complex relationships among apparently disparate parts of the Arctic's diverse economic systems. The framework can be used across the social and natural sciences, practice, and policy‐making. Furthermore, this framework is applicable to regions outside of the Arctic that also have distinct mixed subsistence and market economies. This paper presents a conceptual framework that allows for comparative analysis of arctic economies within their institutional, social, cultural, and environmental contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Market capitalism typically goes through cycles of expansion and contraction. Every now and then, these common economic cycles go off the hinges. They become unstable and can lead to recessions, crises and depressions—phenomena that economists typically explain by looking to exogenous forces. Alternative explanations—mostly Marxian and Keynesian—for the instabilities have been sought within the structure of the economic system itself. One such explanation is provided by Steve Keen in his Goodwin–Minsky model. The model effectively mimics the dynamics of key indicators prior to, during and after the 2007/08 crisis. However, the model is also over‐specified, highly sensitive to initial conditions and therefore more difficult to convey. In line with George Box's plea for parsimony, this paper presents a more straightforward version of Keen's model that remains consistent with its fundamental behaviour. The model also illustrates the potential for further dialogue between Marxian economics and system dynamics. © 2019 The Author System Dynamics Review published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of System Dynamics Society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT In UK environmental, social, and economic policy-making sustainable development (SD) is discussed in a corporate-centric manner, with corporate social responsibility (CSR) seen as an extension of SD. The CSR and SD agendas have, to some extent, been confined to ones which are 'safe' in the current economic system. This paper examines whether the way corporations 'talk about' CSR has changed during the recession. Using document analysis and interviews with key informants, this paper contributes to the debate around whether change in language leads to change in action and whether this affects agenda-setting and policy-making. This paper contributes to the debate linking CSR and corporate activity and investigates how robust CSR activity is when economic prosperity is threatened. Initial findings suggest that CSR is seemingly recession-proof, at least in part because corporate commitment to CSR remains conservative and securely grounded in the safe area of efficiency. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores some social aspects of the transition to a sustainable economy. Starting from basic premises of ecological limits and social justice, the author examines the complex relationship between income and human well-being and argues that the rich world has a responsibility to 'make room for growth' where it matters most in terms of improved well-being; that is, in the poorest nations. The paper argues that this cannot be achieved simply through efficiency improvements or material 'decoupling'. A simple scenario analysis is used to illustrate the heroic nature of the assumptions that decoupling can achieve global carbon targets. Even if such assumptions are technically justifiable, economic incentives and social logic conspire against technological improvements of this magnitude. Instead, there is a need for profound transformation of the economic system itself, for which the rich nations must take a primary responsibility. This transformation has implications for incentive structures, ownership patterns, investment portfolios, the organisation of financial markets, and the structure of economic activities and for expectations of economic growth. It also demands a new economics, informed by a broader - and more realistic - vision of human nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years there is a growing interest in determining the impact of inequality on economic growth. Theoretical papers as well as empirical applications have, however, produced controversial results. Although there is a considerable part of the literature that considers inequality detrimental to growth, more recent studies have challenged this result and found a positive effect of inequality on growth. In this paper, we provide a contribution to the empirical puzzle by using meta-analysis to systematically describe, identify and analyse the variation in outcomes of empirical studies. We find that estimation methods, data quality and sample coverage systematically affect the results. The results point out that it will be particularly useful to increasingly focus research on determining the impact of income inequality on economic growth using single-country data at the regional level, or a relatively homogeneous set of countries with adequate controls for country-wide differences in economic, social and institutional characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent years have seen a sharp growth in the number of regional agreements both concluded and under negotiation. This paper attempts to document and discuss this growth focusing on US, EU, Chinese, Indian and other agreements. The form, coverage and content of these agreements vary considerably from case to case. The paper asks why so many, why the variation in form, and why the recent acceleration. Implications for the trading system are discussed in a final section. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Renewable energy sources play an important role in providing clean energy for future electricity networks. As the penetration level of these resources grows, their integration with the grid will be more challenging. Each renewable energy source has different inherent characteristics that, if appropriately used in the generation mix, could complement each other and create many technical and economic benefits for the power system. Usually, renewable energy resource complementarity studies are carried out with the objectives of smooth effect, reducing the need for storage and load tracking. In this study, the economic complementarity approach is introduced with the help of a Mixed integer nonlinear programming (MINLP) model. This approach can integrate renewable and storage energy sources with the grid and determine the optimal capacity of these resources in complementary used mode. The results show that the proposed method always imposes the system's lowest annual operation and investment costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steady‐state incremental constraints of manipulated variables play a vital role in making given steady‐states satisfy physical limitations and avoiding drastic set‐point changes. Nevertheless, some research reveals that the steady‐state incremental constraints will make the given locally optimal economic steady‐states diverge from the globally optimal economic steady‐states. Therefore, a novel weighted local steady‐state determination approach based on the globally optimal economic steady‐states is presented in this paper. Firstly, the globally and locally optimal economic steady‐states are both evaluated through considering and not considering steady‐state incremental constraints. Then, the angle between them is evaluated and the closest local steady‐state from the globally optimal economic steady‐state is calculated. Subsequently, a new weighted local steady‐state is evaluated by combining the locally optimal economic steady‐state and the closest local steady‐state, in which the weighting coefficient is carefully tuned based on the above‐calculated angle. Finally, several simulations verify that the proposed method could effectively shorten the settling time of controlled systems and improve their economic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agamben's work on bare life, sovereignty and spaces of exception is widely drawn upon by those seeking to understand the topologies of abandonment within contemporary society. While the majority of work has focused on the spectacular forms of violence and extraordinary spaces of exception, neoliberal ideology has been germinating a new version of biopolitics and as such creating new sacred populations, new camps and new sovereign powers. This paper brings Agamben out from the battlefield, to employ his thinking as a means to understand the systemic violence conducted through a biopolitical regime increasingly governed by the logic of profit accumulation. Focusing on vector-borne diseases, the paper demonstrates a perpetual devaluation of lives within a prevailing economic system that searches out, and targets, 'profitable' populations, as exemplified by the current pharmaceutical industry and supporting apparatus that pursues the protection of profits over the preservation of lives. This abandonment within economic markets has spilled over into the arena of global health where equity is increasingly superseded by a goal of efficiency. Through a critique of the disability-adjusted life year ( DALY) measurement (a calculation drawn upon to justify interventions, and frequently invoked under the rubric of 'cost-effectiveness'), this paper argues that DALYs are symptomatic of a wider shift within global health governance and constitutive of a new biopolitical regime - where the body is incorporated within political and economic systems - by judging an individual's 'worth' through their economic productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial on responses of new sustainable development approaches to societal challenges. Topics discussed include approval of 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at the United Nations (UN) in September 2015; increasing global inequality and fundamental failures in economic systems; and the economic development with equity and social justice.

Different approaches to model feedbacks in financial systems are assessed based on requirements for the conceptualization of feedback dynamics. Given the diversity and non‐linearity of systemic financial feedbacks (SFFs), modelling concepts have to be evaluated in the context of system adaption, specifically systemic interconnectivity and behaviour. Methodological approaches from System Dynamics (SD) theory are considered to provide appropriate and attractive features. Surprisingly, few SD models exist to explain SFFs. The scarcity of SD modelling for SFFs may be attributed to the lack of empirically supported economic foundations and methodological challenges for theoretical modelling. This paper considers a conceptual framework for modelling SFFs. The framework emerges from the synthesis of modelling requirements for SFFs, limitations of existing modelling approaches, and innovations from SD. In doing so, this study provides evidence for the contribution of SD concepts to complement existing SFF models and offers suggestions for further modelling towards a ‘dual approach’. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There exist frequent economic cost changes in many process systems due to variations in price, market demand, disturbance, etc. This change switches the economic setpoint of processes throughout their operation and may cause a loss of feasibility and/or stability in economic model predictive control (EMPC). In this paper, we present a novel Lyapunov‐based EMPC scheme for optimization of changing economic costs of constrained nonlinear systems. The dual‐mode paradigm is used to guarantee stability and constraint satisfaction in the presence of changing economic costs. Parameterization control actions are also adopted to decrease the computational effort of solving EMPC optimization. An equilibrium manifold is introduced to unify the terminal regions of local control Lyapunov functions (CLFs) and this enlarges the domain of attraction of the closed‐loop system with EMPC. Moreover, the proposed controller is shown to be always feasible for any change in economic costs and asymptotic stable by providing some CLFs of the nonlinear system. Finally, an example of CSTR is exploited to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme, compared with traditional EMPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY It is of great importance to solve the voltage maintenance problem caused by the introduction of a large number of distributed generators. We have proposed a 'voltage profile control method' using reactive power control for distributed generators, and in previous works we developed new systems that can provide economic incentives to owners of distributed generators who cooperate with voltage profile management. However, it is difficult to apply the proposed economic systems to real-time operation because they are based on optimization technology and the specific amount of incentive is given after the control action has ended. Therefore, in this paper we develop a new method that can determine the amount of incentives in real time and encourage the customers to cooperate with the voltage profile control method. The proposed method was tested in a one-feeder distribution network and its effectiveness was demonstrated. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 187(1): 1-15, 2014; Published online in Wiley Online Library (). DOI 10.1002/eej.22427 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Controlled Rocking Braced Frames (CRBFs) have been developed as a high‐performance seismic force resisting system that can self‐center after an earthquake and avoid structural damage. A CRBF is designed to uplift and rock on its foundation, and this response is controlled using prestressing and energy dissipation devices that are engaged by uplift. Although CRBFs have been shown to have desirable structural performance, a comprehensive assessment of this system must also consider the performance of nonstructural components, which have a significant impact on the safety and economic viability of the system. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the demands on nonstructural components in buildings with CRBFs in comparison to demands in a reference codified system, taken here as a buckling restrained braced frame (BRBF), as well as to identify which design parameters influence these demands. The responses of various types of nonstructural components, including anchored components, stocky unanchored components that slide, and slender unanchored components that rock, are determined using a cascading analysis approach, where absolute floor accelerations generated from nonlinear response history analyses of each system are used as input for computing the responses of nonstructural components. The results show that the downside of maintaining elastic behavior of the CRBF members is, in general, larger demands on nonstructural components compared to the BRBF system. These demands are not highly influenced by impact during rocking or by the supplemental energy dissipation provided, as the vibration of the CRBF in its higher modes is primarily responsible for the higher demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the interview results from nine managers operating in the co-operative food sector in Ontario, Canada. The interview results are framed within the context of Consumer Culture Theory to show how co-operatives can be considered hyper-communities that are built around an opposition to the current economic system's management of food as a common pool resource. The co-operative managers interviewed present a view that co-operatives act as drivers of sustainable innovation by allowing individuals to act as a group with a common interest in sustainable practices. The co-operative model provides these hyper-communities with guidance to interact with the economic system through the co-operative principles. The co-operative principles assist co-operative managers in establishing member control over the common pool resource. This paper supports the growing literature on the co-operative economy and self-governance of common pool resources for a sustainable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes how political and economic transition has affected the system of agricultural production in Khorezm, Uzbekistan in terms of economic practices and relationships. Based on recent fieldwork, the paper argues that the local agricultural economy is a hybrid economy, where production for market, quasi-market and subsistence merge into and co-constitute one another. In order to keep the system going, and to make up for the uncertainties in the formal context of production, the relation between new private fermer and the peasant ( dehkan) households is of particular importance. This relation resembles neo-patrimonial patron-client relations, which are both personal and informal while also being based on formal, contractual relations. The relations are asymmetric and based on the limited and unevenly distributed resources. The division of power is unequal but not fixed, due to the ongoing transition of the economic system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Any given region in the US is a complex, interconnected, and interdependent economic system of systems that includes multiple stakeholders, spans multiple sub-regions, and produces a very large number of commodities and services. This paper provides a holistic, methodological framework with which to model the multisectoral and multiregional economic interdependencies inherent in such a large-scale and complex system, factors essential to making strategic preparedness decisions. The framework we present extends the Inoperability Input-Output Model (IIM) [Santos and Haimes, 2004], a model which has been developed to study these large-scale systems and which has been deployed in various studies. The basic IIM yields only average estimates across geography, and thus may provide insufficient information with which to make decisions about preparedness allocation within and across regions. Such average estimates may lead planners and policy makers to overlook geographically concentrated risks and significant cross-regional interdependencies, which are critical in evaluating strategic preparedness options. This paper extends the IIM to model the multiregional interdependencies among the various regions in the US by introducing and developing the Multiregional IIM (MRIIM) and by presenting the spatially explicit concepts of intraregional and multiregional interdependency matrices, A* and T*, respectively. The MRIIM possesses important properties that are derived from the databases that support the model and from the construction of the model itself. These properties guarantee unique solutions when studying the cascade of perturbation across regions and guarantee convergence when computational methods are applied. These properties also lead to a notion of resilience that is gained from cross-regional interdependencies. The major contribution of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of spatial explicitness in interdependency analysis through an example case study. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Syst Eng [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is consisted of four parts. The first part argues that e-commerce and e-commercial affairs are two different concepts. The second part discusses the property of commodity; that is, a commodity is characterized by six important characteristics including material, flow, owner, region, time and information. The third part puts forward a theory on commodity material flows (MFs) in which the concept of ‘six essential commodities for production and living’ is proposed. It is the first time that the movement rules of ‘six essential commodities for production and living’ and ‘input-production-circulation-consumption’ in the social economic development process was proposed. Commodity physical flow, commodity capital flow and commodity information flow are considered as the three different states of commodity MFs, and they must follow the rule of the entire commodity movement. The theory of commodity MF includes commodity physical flow theory, commodity capital flow theory and commodity information flow theory. The core is commodity physical flow theory. The fourth part further discuses three flows, i.e. commodity physical flow, capital flow and information flow, indicating that three flows are contradictory but complementary, suggesting the systems thinking of ‘three flows integration’, ‘three flows combination’ and ‘three flows incorporation’. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on material flow (MF) theory, this paper proposes two kinds of relationships between MF and economic development in an economic–MF system. First, the relationship between MF input and economic output, weighed by the two indexes ‘MF economic efficiency (MF economic effect coefficient)’ and ‘MF input coefficient (MF consumption coefficient)’; and second, the relationship between MF input increment rate and economic output increment rate, weighed by the index ‘MF input elasticity coefficient’. Using a mathematical interpretation among the above three indexes, the authors propose the developing and changing patterns of the three indexes with demonstration analysis. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an earnest effort to develop a coherent theoretical migration model by embedding the dynamics of urban economics, ignored by the celebrated migration models such as Harris–Todaro model of migration. The principal motivation behind the composition is the eruption of the COVID‐19 global pandemics, which has forced migrant labours (the engine of a globalized economic system) to shift from the urban areas to their origin. This migration crisis has put a serious challenge for the revitalization of the city economy in the post lockdown period. Further, this raises the question can the city provides the migrants better opportunities and benefits to get them to return? In contrast to standard migration models that attempted to limit the migration into the cities, our new theoretical perspective highlights the importance of agglomeration economies, urban informal sector and the development of core urban infrastructure to catalyse agglomeration externalities in the process of urban development and accommodating rural–urban migrants. The presentation of urban political economy into the theoretical account of migration leads to the importance of policies to augment agglomeration economies. These include the provision of infrastructure and affordable housing and mitigate congestion diseconomies in the form of sprawl, slums, poverty, traffic bottlenecks and so forth. Stopping migration or wage subsidy to the urban producer is not only unrealistic but also a myopic solution. On the contrary, cities should be prepared with planning, financing and governance mechanism to create the infrastructure needed by employment‐generating activities, catalysing agglomeration‐led and knowledge‐powered growth. In the end, our model suggests any approach to deal with urbanization issues in India must bring into account the critical part played by migrants‐urban poor and address their needs while benefitting rural areas. The migrants‐urban poor do not need charity. They need to be recognised as partners in the wealth creation process of cities and deserve 'right to the city' on their merit. While markets have failed them in the past, governments have also not catered to their needs. The urban planning and governance processes which failed to recognise the 'location' and 'access' of the poor urban migrants need to be reformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical, socio‐cultural, ideological and political factors have long shaped Vietnam's formal industrial relations system. This has led to the development of a state‐centred structure in which the official trade union has a high level of formal status but little real influence in an economy whose primary employer was the state. Since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the country has experienced a gradual shift towards a market economy through its policy of economic reform (doi moi). Although there is evidence of escalating divisions between workers and managers, the communist government continues to maintain a direct and dominant influence on the industrial relations system. Such influence highlights questions about the legitimacy of institutional and governmental control over formal labour representatives. In this article, we hope to offer a theory‐based explanation of this phenomenon. Key points During doi moi many labour policies have not been closely linked to the process of enhancing competitiveness, protection of political security, or social order and safety.The Vietnamese state is facing great tension between the three theory‐based anchors of this paper: accumulation (encouraging economic performance and competitiveness), pacification (maintaining social order, and defusing conflict at the workplace to keep its leadership in place) and legitimation (pursuing social equity and fostering voice at work as responses to the reality of pluralist workplace).In attempting to maintain a balance between these three functions, the Vietnamese government, compared to a democratic government, does not negotiate with any opposing party, nor deal with different opinions.The economic pressure either from international forces or from the pluralist economic system when it operates is a permanent and ongoing challenge for the government. Vietnam industrial relations has been liberalizing since doi moi but it is still far from a democratized system. Eexternal pressures in the future may well increase the probability of trade union reform, as Vietnam seeks further links with the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Since digital artworks are indeed digital content, they face the inherent problem digital content has: the link between content and its original author is very difficult to keep. Additionally, retaining control over digital copies of the content is also a challenging task. Digital coins have solved this very same problem through cryptocurrencies (for instance, Bitcoin) and have opened the door to apply the same techniques to other similar scenarios where ownership of digital assets needs to be preserved. In this paper, we propose BArt, a transparent and distributed mechanism for artists to commercialize their digital artwork, keeping control of the copies, monetizing its usage, and maintaining ownership. BArt allows artists to publicly register their work in the Bitcoin blockchain and sell usage rights in exchange for bitcoins. Buyers are allowed to exert the acquired rights. Proper behavior from all parties is enforced by the system with cryptography and economic incentives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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