Search

This paper studies the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, which is a hot topic in the field of environmental economics. This topic is within the scope of the Frontiers in Environmental Science and is particularly in line with the theme of Environmental Economics and Management section in the journal. Firstly, this paper constructs the Digital Economy Development Index and its variable indicators to measure the development of the digital economy. Secondly, this paper uses urban panel data to reveal the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, and further adopts IV method to deal with endogeneity issues. Thirdly, this paper performs the heterogeneity analyses depending on the characteristics of the city. The results can provide a basis for formulating differentiated policies. Fourthly, this paper further explores the mechanism by which the digital economy affects carbon peaking. The results show that the digital economy may influence carbon peaking through upgrading of the industrial structure, technical innovation, and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission issues are becoming increasingly severe, and the carbon emissions in shrinking cities, primarily characterized by population loss, are often overlooked and insufficiently studied. This paper focuses on the carbon emissions from county-level administrative units in China's three northeastern provinces from 2001 to 2017. The study scientifically identified shrinking cities and measured the differences in carbon emission characteristics between growing and shrinking cities using the Theil index. Ultimately, the paper constructs a panel spatial econometric model to analyze the factors influencing them and explore their spatial effects. (1) The total carbon emissions in the Three Northeastern Provinces exhibited an inverted U-shaped trend, increasing from 734.21 million tons in 2001 to 1731.73 million tons in 2017, with the Mann–Kendall trend test showing a significant increase; spatially, this manifests as a significant positive spatial autocorrelation. (2) The region has 138 shrinking cities, accounting for over 50%; regarding carbon emission characteristics, the Theil index has consistently remained above 0.18, indicating significant differences between the carbon emissions of growing and shrinking cities. (3) The panel spatial econometric model results show that the influencing factors of carbon emissions in shrinking cities have unique directions, intensities, and spatial effects. In shrinking cities, aside from localized GDP effects and per-capita GDP acting as a suppressant, the population size has a pronounced inhibitory effect on local and surrounding carbon emissions. The analysis reveals significant differences in the carbon emission patterns and mechanisms between growing and shrinking cities; based on these results, the paper proposes differentiated carbon control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving carbon emission efficiency is crucial for achieving carbon peak and carbon neutrality. This paper analyzes the carbon emission efficiency of Chinese cities using panel data from 275 prefecture-level cities between 2006 and 2020. The super-efficiency SBM (undesirable slacks-based measurement) model of undesired output, combined with kernel density estimation and exploratory data analysis, is employed. This study finds, firstly, from 2006 to 2020, the average efficiency of carbon emissions in Chinese cities declined from 0.53 to 0.48, indicating a downward trend. Secondly, from a temporal perspective, the level of dispersion in urban carbon emission efficiency has become increasingly distinct over time, coupled with a decrease in polarization. Thirdly, in terms of spatial analysis, urban carbon emission efficiency in China shows a positive correlation in a global context. In terms of local spatial correlation, it primarily exhibits high-high and low-low clusters, with a few instances of low–high and high-low clusters. Finally, based on the research findings, this paper proposes suggestions to improve urban carbon emission efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the twentieth century, paper-cuts have been variously regarded as a domestic craft, a site of rural purity, a marker of Chinese civilization, and more recently, a national intangible cultural heritage. This article analyzes paper-cuts not merely as a cultural practice but as a medium of articulation through which Chinese urban intellectuals have understood the countryside and traditions at specific historical moments. It also explores paper-cuts as a cultural medium through which urban elites have expressed their visions of the nation’s path to modernity and women’s liberation. During the Yan’an period (1937–1947), paper-cuts served as a Communist marker to distinguish an “art form of healthiness and honesty” from urban decadence under Nationalist rule. Since the 1980s, however, the art and practices of paper-cutting have come to share new discursive spaces: as the site of recovery of a lost Chinese civilization, an urban nostalgia for vanishing rural ritual practices, and most recently, a discourse of capital, profit, and personal success. By analyzing the shifting meanings assigned to paper-cuts, this article explores the relationship among the state, culture, and capital as it has been actively manufactured and negotiated through this folk practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper‐based composite packages, which have been widely used for beverage in modern daily life, are featured of nutrition preservation and convenience. However, it is also causing environmental problems in urban areas because of the low recycling rate. The introduction of extended producer responsibility (EPR) is helpful to improving the recycling rate of beverage paper‐based composite packaging by extending the producer's environmental‐protecting responsibility for the product from its production to its end‐of‐life treatment. To find out the optimal strategy of applying the EPR system for beverage paper‐based composite packaging, this paper is conducted based on the basic framework of the EPR system, combined with the specific requirements of the EPR System Implementation Plan promulgated by China and the Implementation Plan of the EPR System for Beverage Paper‐Based Composite Packaging. An evaluation index system for beverage paper‐based composite packaging manufacturers is constructed to perform the EPR system, including three management‐level indicators, 10 standard‐level indicators and 42 programme‐level indicators. A comprehensive evaluation method is introduced to help the producers to fulfill the extended producer responsibility. Results suggest that beverage paper‐based composite packaging producers should first fulfill the responsibility in information disclosure, ecological design and use of recycled materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how urban road transport (URT) development affects haze pollution. One of the innovations of this paper is that URT development is measured by road accessibility with novel digital elevation model datasets, which have been used by few scholars. The endogenous problem caused by revere causality issue in the relationship between URT development and haze pollution is also considered. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses long-lagged values of URT development as the instrumental variable, employing the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The study shows that URT development leads to an increase of haze pollution. Moreover, mechanism tests based on moderating and mediating models support the finding that decreasing haze pollution resulted from better connection effects, while rising agglomeration effects tend to bring about increasing haze pollution, and the latter effect is larger in magnitude than the former. Current URT development may have long-term negative consequences for livability of YRD cities, and urban decision makers should reconsider the effectiveness of the current road transport investment and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of transportation infrastructure upgrading, this paper discussed the motivation behind industrial firms' pollution transfer to provincial borders. Using a panel data set of 41 cities in China's Yangtze River Delta from 2005 to 2020, this paper empirically tested the impact of intracity and intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading on pollution transfer through a two-way fixed-effects model. The results revealed the following: First, intracity transportation infrastructure upgrading forces local industrial firms to transfer pollution outward. Second, intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading accelerates pollution transfer to provincial borders. Third, in the central region, intracity transportation infrastructure upgrading does not significantly impact local pollution transfer. Intercity transportation infrastructure upgrading can aggravate border pollution, whether in the eastern or central regions. Furthermore, border pollution is more serious in the central region. The results have important practical significance for improving China's regional development planning and environmental governance system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of energy price fluctuation on the macro economy is a hot issue that is continuously concerned by the academic community, but few literature have paid attention to the impact of energy price fluctuation on housing price and the financial risks that may arise. Based on the data of cities at and above the prefecture level in China, this paper empirically examines the impact of energy price fluctuation on the price fluctuation of the domestic real estate, and analyzes its influencing mechanism and transmission pathways. The results show that changes of energy price will significantly affect the fluctuation of domestic real estate price, and it is more obvious in large cities and megacities. Energy price affect the demand for housing through changes of interest rate levels on the one hand, and the supply of the real estate market through the cost of housing construction on the other hand, which leads to housing price fluctuation. After a series of robustness tests, the results are still valid. At the same time, the effect is asymmetric, that is, higher energy price increases the fluctuation of house price, but the impact of falling energy price is not significant. Therefore, when preventing real estate market risks, energy price should be considered as a forward-looking indicator to focus on, and the regulation and control policies of the real estate market should be scientifically formulated. This paper not only provides a new perspective on the mechanism of housing price formation, but also enriches the research on the interconnection between energy and financial markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the major aims of digital city development is to improve the cities' natural and social environment friendliness, which aligns with the target of the ESG strategy. However, it is still unclear how to measure the impact of digital city development on ESG performance. This paper examines how digital city policies affect the ESG performance of firms. We propose a methodology to quantify digital city policies based on the textual analysis (BOW method) and measure the level of digital city policy support in each prefecture-level city in China from 2011 to 2022. Further, we introduce instrumental variables (IV), PSM, and other methods to empirically investigate the impact effects and obtain the following main conclusions: First, the digital city policy positively impacts firms' ESG performance. After controlling for the fixed effects of the different dimensions, a 1% increase in the level of digital city policy support represented by the DCPI raises firms' ESG scores by about 2%. Second, the facilitating effect of digital city policies on the sub-dimensions of ESG is asymmetric. Digital city policies significantly affect the environmental protection and corporate governance dimensions of firms, while the effect on CSR is not significant. Third, the impact of digital city policies on ESG performance is heterogeneous across different regions of China and cities with different population sizes. This paper will enrich the understanding of digital city policies and the research on institutional factors affecting ESG, which will provide some insights to both business managers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing with cities, rural communities especially those declining rural communities have become vulnerable to natural disasters owing to their backward socioeconomic conditions. Taking Xun County of China's Henan Province as the study area, the paper aims to evaluate rural community resilience to flood by unveiling the connection between individuals' cognition, follow-up actions and the community resilience. Research results show that: (1) The logic chain exists as individual's cognition to disaster leads to their constructive actions to cope with disaster, which contribute to community resilience. (2) At the cognition dimension, individual's knowledge reserve of disaster prevention and their recognition to local authority are playing an important role in their decision making and follow-up behaviors when disaster occurs. (3) At the action dimension, individual's familiarity with the disaster preparedness, efficient information transmission when disaster occurs and villagers' following order and their unity of action all contribute to community resilience to disaster. The paper proposes ways to improve rural community resilience to disasters based on the research findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the applicability and implications of the political tournament model in Chinese cities by arguing that there is urban bias in political tournaments, especially in prefecture-level cities. Urban district leaders have to cooperate more and compete less than their counterparts in counties. The implication is that the percentage of urban districts is positively associated with monopolistic behavior of local government. Based on land leasing data of 290 prefecture-level cities from 2004 to 2014 (except 2012), it is found that the percentage of districts is positively associated with the speed of land price decline in leases through tender, auction and listing (TAL). This result supports the urban bias hypothesis in the context of the Coase Conjecture. It is also found that the total number of districts or population size is negatively associated with the speed of land price decline. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of society, the number of female-headed households is on the rise. Based on the data from the China Household Finance Survey (CHFS) in 2019, this paper establishes a Tobit model to study the influence of female-headed households on household debt risk. Results indicate that female-headed households can substantially reduce household debt risk, and this conclusion still holds after overcoming endogeneity issues. Further tests on the mediating effect reveal that risk aversion and housing property holding have partial mediating effects and masking effects, respectively, in the path of female-headed households affecting household debt risk. In addition, the heterogeneity analysis indicates that the influence of female-headed households on household debt risk is more significant in third-tier cities, as well as in families without children, families without elderly members, and families with more than two elderly members. The conclusions of this paper provide a reference for the relevant policy measures to reduce household debt risk and promote gender equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of urbanization has brought new challenges to the ecological environment, and the promotion of green technology innovation and development is widely recognized as an essential method to achieve cities' economic benefits and environmental protection. This paper examines whether the new urbanization pilot policies (NUP) increase green technology innovation (GTI) from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. This paper examines the impact of new urbanization on GTI by analyzing data from 285 cities in China between 2010 and 2021, using the multi-period DID model with the implementation of NUP as an exogenous policy shock. The study results indicate that NUP significantly affects GTI, and the conclusion still holds after the parallel trend test, placebo test, and other robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the NUP significantly enhances GTI in low environmental pollution, non-resource-based, Medium-sized, and Central Region cities. The test of moderating effect shows that NUP has a "linkage effect" with the government's environmental attention, financial investment in innovation, and regional talent pooling. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence and decision-making reference for promoting NUP and sustainable development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional networking strategy is widely implemented in China as a normative policy aimed at fostering cohesion and enhancing competitiveness. However, the empirical basis for this strategy remains relatively weak due to limitations in measurement methods and data availability. This paper establishes the urban networks by the enterprise investment data, and then accurately measures the network's external effects of each city by the method of MGWR model. The results show that: (1) Regional networking plays a significant role in urban development, although it is not the dominant factor. (2) The benefits of network connections may vary depending on the location and level of cities. (3) The major cities assume a pivotal role in the urban network. Based upon the aforementioned research conclusions, this paper presents strategic measures to enhance the network's external impacts, aiming to offer insights for other regions in formulating regional development strategies and establishing regional urban networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is the main theme of modern development in China and even the world. Green development depends on green technology innovation (GTI). Therefore, for developing countries like China in the stage of economic transition, it is urgent to accelerate GTI to gain sustained advantages in the new round of international competition. As an important representative of contemporary rapid transportation, high-speed railway (HSR) can not only alleviate the rapidly growing transportation demand of the public, but also have potential benefits to the energy consumption structure and environmental quality. Whether and how HSR affects GTI has become the focus of this paper. Hence, by employing the panel data of 286 cities in China from 2007 to 2018 with the time-varying DID model, this paper verifies that HSR development can contribute to GTI. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The operation of HSR can not only make the incremental development of GTI, but also improve the quality of GTI simultaneously. Moreover, the quality improvement effect of HSR is greater than the quantity increment effect. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of HSR on GTI is more significant for cities that have implemented LCCP. (3) This paper verifies the mediating effect of high-quality human capital. The opening of HSR further stimulates GTI by improving the level of high-quality human capital in cities and increasing the opportunities for knowledge exchange and diffusion. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes some policy recommendations to help developing countries achieve GTI with positive externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the implementation of an unbalanced enhancement strategy has led to severe resource misallocation, making the mitigation and rectification of this misallocation an urgent issue. This paper utilizes urban data from China between 2006 and 2020 to examine the impact of two-way foreign direct investment (FDI) on resource misallocation, as well as the pathways through which coordinated advancement of two-way FDI affects resource misallocation. After undergoing a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, the conclusion remains stable. Mechanism testing reveals that coordinated advancement of two-way FDI improves capital resource misallocation by enhancing the enhancement level of the financial industry, while exacerbating labor misallocation by increasing labor costs. This paper integrates the coordinated advancement of two-way FDI and resource misallocation into the same analytical framework, proposing policy recommendations to alleviate China's resource misallocation issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The digital economy is gradually emerging as a new driving force and engine for high-quality economic development. In the context of reaching carbon peak and carbon neutrality, can the digital economy empower the development of urban green technology innovation? Based on the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper measures the development level of digital economy at the city level and employs the two-way fixed effect model to empirically analyze the impact of digital economy on urban green technology innovation. The results indicate that: (1) Digital economy development exert a significant positive impact on urban green technology innovation. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. (2) Digital economy enhances urban green technology innovation by optimizing human capital structure, enhancing the level of financial and credit investment, and strengthening public environmental concern. (3) Heterogeneity analyses show that the digital economy has a greater positive effect on green technology innovation in the eastern region and non-resource cities. The higher the level of intellectual property protection and the better the development of the factor market, and the lower the intensity of environmental regulation, the greater the positive effect of the digital economy on urban green technology innovation. These findings are not only of great practical significance for accelerating the development of green technology innovation in China, but also serve as a reference for other developing countries to utilize the digital economy to empower the development of green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The virtual water flow behind product trade provides researchers with ideas to alleviate water problems in China's coastal areas, with accompanying resource and economic implications. This paper adopts a multi-region input–output model to calculate virtual water flows in coastal areas and analyses resource benefits and economic benefits, by combining the water stress index and shadow price, to measure gains and losses of virtual water flow. This study shows that (1) China's coastal areas depends on external water supplies; (2) virtual water flows between coastal and inland areas generated 38.26 billion m3 of net scarce water savings and CNY 31,751 billion of net economic benefits, indicating that coastal areas benefited from virtual water flows from both resource and economic perspectives; (3) virtual water flows among coastal provinces and cities caused 11.10 billion m3 of net scarce water losses, but generated CNY 9784 billion of net economic gains, indicating that a further intensification of water stress in coastal areas, but such a virtual water flow pattern was beneficial from an economic perspective. This paper reveals the resource and economic impacts of virtual water flow at the national scale and among coastal provinces and cities and further proposes suggestions for promoting the beneficial flow of virtual water in coastal areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrialization and urbanization are significant facets of modernization. The asynchronous development of the two is closely related to the agglomeration of producer services. This paper constructed an asynchrony index to describe the development gap between industrialization and urbanization. Various spatial weight matrices were introduced to test the spatial autocorrelation of the asynchrony index. Applying spatial econometric models, we explored the impact of agglomeration of producer services on the asynchrony index from two aspects: diversified agglomeration (DA) and specialized agglomeration (SA). The following conclusions are drawn from the empirical findings, which are based on data from 31 Chinese provinces between 2008 and 2019: (1) the asynchrony of industrialization and urbanization exhibits the spatial autocorrelation increasing over time; (2) SA exacerbates the asynchrony, while DA alleviates the asynchrony; (3) SA exerts greater impacts in highly industrialized and urbanized regions, while DA exerts greater effects in lowly industrialized and urbanized regions; and (4) agricultural dependence and infrastructure level weaken the impacts of SA and strengthen the impacts of DA. Income level weakens the impacts of both SA and DA. The results of this study provide a reference for policymakers to adjust the industrial layout in a targeted manner to regulate the asynchronous nature of modernization development. Peace and development are the themes of the world today. Most developing countries are experiencing or about to experience industrialization and urbanization. The world reality indicates that the two are not always synchronized in countries due to resource and cultural differences. Producer services not only improve agricultural and industrial production efficiency but also bring population agglomeration effects like other industries. In the era of informatization, the producer services exert a profound impact on industrialization and urbanization through two agglomeration modes. This technical paper quantifies the asynchrony between industrialization and urbanization using data from 31 provinces in China and verifies the opposite effects of two agglomeration modes on asynchrony. In cities with different levels of industrialization and urbanization, cities with higher or lower agricultural dependence, and cities with higher or lower infrastructure levels, the impact direction of the two agglomeration modes shows stability, while the magnitude varies. Cities with higher per capita income tend to develop into consumer cities, where industrialization should lag behind urbanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering China's 'isolated' digital ecosystem, this paper examines China's 'check-in' activities to understand how the wanghong economy is driving China's new rounds of urban development, with the purpose of supplementing existing research on digital economies from the Chinese context. Focusing on a representative case study area called Dongshankou in Guangzhou, which is regarded as one of the most popular wanghong places and an emerging commercial centre, I sought to enrich existing studies about digital economies and extend scholarship on platform urbanism from the cultural economy perspective. First, I argue that Chinese consumers' check-in activities function as the data accumulation process, structuring Dongshankou's digital capital through the assemblage of online posts and geotags. Therefore, Dongshankou's urban development challenges the conventional view of creativity as the key factor in the cultural economy for urban development, given that digital capital is now the key driver for urban development in the digital age. Second, the growth of wanghong stores in Dongshankou reveals how the wanghong economy is materialised into urban cultural objects. Emotional value – a crucial selling point that these wanghong stores aim to provide to facilitate consumers' check-in activities – illustrates how China's highly participatory digital ecosystem extracts users' emotions and bodily experiences into the process of capital accumulation, which structures the 'platform urbanism' through our daily lives. This paper broadens the horizon for an alternative theoretical agenda in platform urbanism: beyond focusing solely on platform algorithms, how digital platforms and emotions become inextricably linked in economic production should be further explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the critical period of strengthening the construction of ecological civilization, the construction of forest cities has become an important measure to promote urban ecosystem restoration and achieve sustainable development. Based on the mechanism of forest city promoting green development, the construction of a national forest city is regarded as a "quasi-natural experiment". Using China's urban panel data from 2005 to 2019, the impact of national forest city construction on urban green total factor productivity was evaluated using Multistage asymptotic double difference. The results show that National Forest Cities with environmental regulation can significantly promote regional green total factor productivity, which is still valid after a series of Robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that forest city construction not only affects territorial spatial planning but also forms a linkage with green technology innovation, mutual promotion and mutual promotion to jointly promote the sustainable development goals. This paper argues that building a national forest city is an important measure to achieve China's sustainable development goals in the new era, but in the process of policy implementation, it is necessary to implement the national forest city selection system according to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China is currently focusing on the cooperative control of air pollution and CO2 emissions, as well as the mitigation of economic policy uncertainty (EPU). By using panel data from 282 cities spanning from 2003 to 2017 and a newly constructed city-level EPU index, a spatial Durbin, two-way fixed-effects model is employed, with the aim of estimating the impact of EPU on the synergistic emissions intensity (SEI) of air pollutants and CO2. Additionally, this paper investigates the potential channels through which EPU influences SEI. It also explores how pressures related to environmental protection and economic development affect the impact of EPU on SEI. The results indicate that a unit increase in EPU will result in a rise in the SEI of local cities, adjacent cities, and total cities by 930.9%, 69,162.7%, and 70,093.6%, respectively. Moreover, the channel analysis suggests that EPU exacerbates SEI by undermining the upgrading of the industrial structure, augmenting industrial structure distortion, and escalating labor market distortion. Furthermore, the effect of EPU on SEI may be lessened by an increase in environmental protection pressure, while an increase in economic development pressure may exert a positive influence. Finally, this paper concludes by recommending that policymakers should prioritize the maintenance and stability of economic policies, facilitate the advancement of the industrial structure, enhance the efficiency of labor resource allocation, and underscore the significance of managing urban air pollution and CO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing uncertainty of urban security, urban resilience construction with risk awareness and bottom-line thinking has become essential for promoting sustainable urban development. This paper measures China's urban resilience development index (CRDI) based on 284 cities in China (except Tibet) using the entropy method from four dimensions: economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure, and analyzes it by combining coupling coordination degree and barrier factor analysis. We find that: (1) At the national level, CRDI and its sub-dimensions show an increasing trend in time, a decreasing spatial layout from coastal to inland, and a "high-high-low-low" clustering feature in space. (2) At the regional level, the CRDI is from high to low in the east, middle, and west order. The sub-dimensions are from high to low in the order of east, middle, and west for economic, social, and infrastructure resilience and from high to low in the order of east, west, and middle for environmental resilience. (3) To coupling coordination degree, the CRDI index coupling coordination is increasing in time trend but is still on the verge of dissonance. (4) Social resilience is the main obstacle factor. In the indicator layer, human resources, innovation, education, security, living, and environmental protection are the areas where CRDI coordinated development is the key to improvement. Based on the above empirical evidence, this paper proposes countermeasures to optimize urban resilience construction from four perspectives: economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to detail the relationships between urbanization, industrialization, the innovation ability of cities and local air quality in 284 cities in China using annual data. For the empirical outputs, the panel quantile regression analysis, which considers the heterogeneous nature of the data set, is employed. Initial findings indicate that (i) urbanization and industrialization negatively affect local air quality. (ii) Innovation capability of cities has a direct and improving impact on local air quality. Then, the paper estimates the moderating role of cities' ability to innovate in the polluting effect of urbanization and industrialization on local air quality. Remarkably, empirical evidence indicates that (iii) the innovation ability of cities also moderates the polluting impact of urbanization and industrialization on local air pollution. Based on the findings, the paper confirms the importance of both direct and moderator effects of the innovative environment in cities in tackling air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the impact of Internet infrastructure construction on enterprise transformation and upgrading and the underlying mechanisms using a progressive double difference model based on a quasi-natural experiment of the Chinese government's "broadband China" policy by matching A-share listed companies and city panel data from 2008–2019 in Shanghai and Shenzhen. The conclusions show that the "broadband China" policy can significantly promote the transformation and upgrading of enterprises in pilot cities. However, its effect shows a diminishing marginal contribution, and the policy is more effective for traditional manufacturing industries during the implementation period. Enhancing human capital and reducing internal transaction costs are two important channels for Internet infrastructure construction to help enterprises transform and upgrade. Combined with the life cycle theory, we find that the "broadband China" policy has the most significant impact on changing and upgrading enterprises in the growth and maturity stages, especially those in the manufacturing industry, but not those in the maturity and decline stages of the service industry. Finally, a series of robustness tests using Monte Carlo simulation, entropy balance method, and instrumental variables method, excluding other factors, show that the findings are still robust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2000 to 2019, this paper searches the number of patent applications related to urban artificial intelligence from five dimensions: algorithm, data, computing power, application scenario and related technology. Combining the two perspectives of industrial upgrading and rationalization, we analyze the internal influence theory of the research topic from the theoretical and empirical perspectives. The results show that artificial intelligence is not only conducive to industrial upgrading, but also significantly inhibit the deviation of industrial structure from equilibrium, which is conducive to industrial rationalization. In addition, the conclusion of this paper is still valid after a series of robustness tests, such as eliminating the samples of central cities, winsorize treatment and instrumental variables method. Through the heterogeneity test, it is found that the promoting effect of artificial intelligence on industrial upgrading is more obvious in big cities and cities with high level of industrial upgrading. The internal mechanism test results show that artificial intelligence promotes industrial upgrading by promoting technological innovation. In cities with a high degree of marketization and Internet development, the role of artificial intelligence in promoting industrial upgrading can be strengthened. The research conclusions of this paper will be conducive to accelerating the development of artificial intelligence to promote industrial upgrading, and provide a useful reference for realizing high-quality development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a shared challenge encountered by nations worldwide. As China is on its way toward a green economy, it is worth studying whether producer services agglomeration, a key driver of economic transition, can promote low-carbon urban development. Using panel data of 257 cities across China from 2006 to 2019, this paper examines the influence of producer services agglomeration on urban carbon emissions with spatial econometric models. The findings reveal a positive spatial correlation in regional carbon emissions. The agglomeration of producer services notably decreases the intensity of local carbon emissions, yet it appears to have minimal influence on the emissions from adjacent regions. Enhancing energy efficiency and adjusting the industrial structure are two critical mechanisms by which producer services agglomeration reduces urban carbon emissions. This beneficial effect varies with city type, the abatement effect of producer services agglomeration is more pronounced in non-resource-based cities. When considering city size, the carbon reduction potential of producer services agglomeration is not apparent in smaller cities. As city size increases, the emission reduction effect becomes more apparent. However, in mega-cities, this impact is somewhat diminished. Accordingly, this paper proposes exploring methods of coordinated air pollution management across cities, promoting producer services agglomeration in line with market mechanisms, and driving low-carbon urban development in a manner tailored to local conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism has emerged as a pivotal element of China's economic development, particularly within its coastal cities. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of China's coastal city tourism economic development, focusing on 53 coastal cities. Through a meticulous combination of literature analysis and data crawling, a robust database is constructed, encompassing tourism resources and revenues. This study delineates the spatial–temporal evolution pattern of China's coastal city tourism development and employs geo-detector methods to quantitatively analyze the impact factors driving this evolution. Key findings reveal distinct trends in the coastal tourism economy of China from 2009 to 2019, characterized by spatial stability, similar trends in adjacent spatial units, and localized spatial structures. Notably, factors such as actual foreign investment, the presence of star-rated guesthouses, tourism industry employment, airport activity, and import–export trade volume exert significant influence on the domestic tourism economy. Similarly, tourism employment, airport activity, availability of star-rated hotels, import–export trade, and utilization of foreign capital emerge as influential factors shaping inbound tourism. Policy recommendations emphasize the need for government intervention to optimize tourism development strategies for coastal cities. This entails balancing resource exploitation with environmental protection and enhancing the quality of tourism services, fostering sustainable growth and long-term prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In today's increasingly complex stock era, resilient community planning for uncertainty risks is important for building resilient cities and communities and for realizing the refinement, process, and systematization of planning. Therefore, this paper proposes the concept of community planning resilience based on resilience theory and explores a framework system for evaluating the planning resilience of renewal and transformation community by taking renewal and transformation future community planning of Zhejiang as the research object. At the same time, the technical path of realizing public participation in community planning is explored through the method, mechanism, and technical platform of fuzzy group decision-making. Finally, the feasibility of the aforementioned framework and approach is experimentally explored and verified based on a typical case of renewal and renovation of future community planning. In order to make community regeneration planning more planning resilient, this paper develops a community planning group decision-making study from the perspective of community planning resilience, which provides a new research perspective for the field of community resilience and provides a reference for community planning evaluation and the construction of resilient communities. Practical Applications: In China's advancing urbanization, major cities are grappling with diverse risks, necessitating urban planning and governance with heightened resilience to face unforeseen black swan events and foreseeable gray rhinoceros challenges. This urgency is particularly pronounced in community renewal, prompting a vital shift from rigid to resilient planning methodologies. To address this shift, this paper advocates for resilient community construction to be a focal point in both policy and practical implementation of community regeneration. A novel approach utilizing the fuzzy decision-making method is proposed to establish a comprehensive resilient community renewal decision-making technology support system. This system employs a fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method, integrating an empowerment approach to simplify the complexities of a multicriteria index system. By mitigating the risks inherent in resilience planning, our approach enhances the scientific foundation and feasibility of decision-making in community renewal. A case study on the Future Community in Zhejiang Province validates the effectiveness of our approach, providing practical insights for constructing resilient community renewal models and system technology platforms. This research contributes to the ongoing exploration of strategies and technologies capable of addressing diverse challenges in urban development, providing references in enhancing urban resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the goal of "achieving carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060", how to select the type of fresh air system has become a key area of energy conservation. The method of outdoor design PM2.5 concentration is one of the important factors affecting the selection of fresh air filtration system. This paper first analyzed the PM2.5 concentration values of 31 cities in China from 2017 to 2020 based on mathematical induction, and next gave the recommended coefficient K under six urban economic regions methods in combination with the actual situation. Finally, the selection of air filters in five typical cities was taken as an example, the differences in recommended coefficient K and selection of outdoor design PM2.5 concentration under different recommended methods were compared and analyzed. The results showed that the recommended coefficient K under the six economic regions could meet the required K value needs of the region. The recommended coefficient K by the six economic regions methods based on per capita GDP is the best. Under that conditions, the recommended coefficient K of the five typical cities under strict and normal conditions differs from the average K values of the six methods by 0.06 and 0.04. This paper will provide a new method for the correct selection of outdoor design PM2.5 concentration in fresh air systems to achieve the dual carbon energy-saving goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since entering the 21st century, many developing countries around the world have begun to enter a stage of rapid urbanization; large-scale "rural-urban" population migration has become a typical social phenomenon in these countries. Against this backdrop, this paper aims to elucidate the spatial migration characteristics of rural populations and to discuss future rural–urban development strategies. For this purpose, this paper takes China as a case and employs methods such as spatial autocorrelation analysis, hotspot analysis, and network analysis to construct an intercity migration network of rural migrants and analyze its spatial characteristics and internal structure. The results indicate that the migration pattern of the rural population exhibits notable spatial clustering features. Cities in the eastern and central regions are, respectively, hotspots for the inflow and outflow of rural populations, with internal migration dominating in western cities and relatively inactive rural population movements in northeastern cities. Municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities, and provincial capitals show a significant tendency to attract rural populations, while prefecture-level and county-level cities mainly radiate rural populations outward. Cities nationwide form seven major clusters in the migration network, and these clusters exhibit distinct structural characteristics. Rural population migration is influenced by various factors. In the future, considerations should focus on the county as the primary unit, attracting rural populations for local employment, and promoting rural revitalization and agriculture development. The findings of this paper are of reference significance not only to China but also to many developing countries with similar national conditions in the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of global urban development, there are urgent ecological security and environmental pollution problems, green development is the fundamental way for urban sustainable development, economic transformation and mitigation of ecological and environmental problems. Based on the panel data of 283 cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2003 to 2017, this paper analyzes spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of urban green development efficiency (UGDE) and the peer effects of UGDE between cities of different grades. It is found that during the study period, in terms of temporal evolution, the average UGDE in China increased from 0.47 in 2003 to 0.61 in 2017, with a cumulative growth rate of 29.79%, showing a rising trend in general. In terms of spatial evolution, the number of low-efficiency cities and medium-efficiency cities continued to decrease. The eastern region has always been the main distribution area of higher-efficiency cities and high-efficiency cities; in the central region, UGDE in most cities improved significantly; in the western region, UGDE has always lagged behind that in the eastern and central regions. In addition, the center of gravity of UGDE presented a trend of northwest migration in general, with a total displacement of 100.07 km, and UGDE showed a spatial dispersion trend. The empirical results indicate that the improvement of UGDE in large cities has a driving effect on that in neighboring medium cities and small cities through the positive peer effect, and the growth of UGDE in medium cities has a promoting effect on that in neighboring small cities through the positive peer effect; the increase of UGDE in medium cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring large cities, and the growth of UGDE in small cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring medium cities; UGDE promotes each other between large cities through the positive peer effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: With the rapid development of digital technology and its deep integration with environmental and ecological fields, the digital economy has become an effective way to guide the transition of cities to an eco-friendly model. However, empirical studies on the nonlinear spatial effects between digital economy and ecological welfare performance are still insufficient. Methods: Based on the panel data of 270 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020, this paper empirically examines the impact of the digital economy on the ecological welfare performance of cities and its mechanism of action using spatial econometric modeling. Results: The promotion effect of digital economy development on the ecological welfare performance of cities is characterized by the "J" shape of increasing marginal effect, and the spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of neighboring cities is the inverted "U" shape of inhibiting first and then promoting later. The mechanism test shows that the development of digital economy can enhance the ecological welfare performance of cities through the marginal incremental promotion of green technological innovation in local and neighboring cities and has a positive spatial spillover effect. The development of digital economy can have a direct U shape effect on local ecological welfare performance by influencing factor allocation efficiency and energy utilization efficiency. It also has an inverted U-shaped spatial spillover effect. Environmental regulation has an inverted U-shaped moderating effect on the local eco-welfare performance affected by the digital economy. As the level of rural revitalization increases, it produces a U-shaped moderating effect of inhibiting. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that digital economy development has a more significant facilitating effect and a positive spatial spillover effect on the ecological welfare performance of cities in central China. Discussion: This paper will provide a reference for the synergistic optimization of digital economy development and ecological welfare performance among regions. The findings of the study will promote the development of digital economy and accelerate the realization of the goal of "Beautiful China". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes an improved undesirable output DEA model to measure the eco-efficiency of cities in five major urban agglomerations in China during 2006–2020. It employs the Theil Index and Geodetector to investigate the spatial-temporal distribution differentiation characteristics and driving factors of urban eco-efficiency. The main findings are as follows. Firstly, the eco-efficiency of all urban agglomerations showed a fluctuating upward trend, but the eco-efficiency performance of different urban agglomerations in China shows a stratification characteristic. Specifically, the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration consistently ranks first in China, while the mean values of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration, and Chengdu-Chongqing urban agglomeration are lower than the national average. Secondly, the overall differences in the urban eco-efficiency of all sample cities show a consistently fluctuating downward trend. The factor that affects the level differences of eco-efficiency in different cities is the intra-regional differences. Last but not least, the top three factors affecting the spatial distribution difference of urban eco-efficiency in the whole sample are environmental pollution control investments, innovation level, and environmental infrastructure investments. In the end, this paper proposes that reducing the intra-regional differences is the primary task to achieve the coordinated improvement of urban eco-efficiency in urban agglomerations, and then puts forward some policy suggestions to improve eco-efficiency for the five major urban agglomerations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Judicial improvement and trade structure optimization are important elements in achieving a high level of openness. This paper develops a theoretical framework on the impact of local protectionism on market integration and export technical complexity, and then empirically analyses the effect of judicial improvement on the technical complexity of urban product exports and its mechanism of action based on a quasi-natural experiment with the establishment of circuit courts. The study finds that the establishment of circuit courts significantly increases the technical complexity of product exports, and the findings remain valid after a series of robustness tests. Further analysis shows that the technology enhancement effect of the establishment of circuit courts is more pronounced in the group of cities with higher administrative levels, better location advantages, and less advanced rule of law. Mechanism Analysis shows that a superior institutional environment can have a two-sided effect on different types of firms. Overall, however, the productivity-enhancing effect of low-productivity firms exiting the market is lower than the productivity-reducing effect of higher-productivity firms' increased compliance costs, which in turn weakens the positive promotional effect of circuit courts. The above theoretical and empirical findings provide policy implications for maximizing the technology enhancement effect of the establishment of circuit courts on product exports, thereby promoting a high level of openness in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensification of global economic competition, innovation has become one of the core elements of vigorous development in various regions. Improving the innovation ability of cross-regional central cities is the main factor influencing whether a region can achieve economic and social development. In this paper, an innovation primacy index system is designed according to the links of the innovation value chain, and the innovation advantages and empirical effects are comprehensively analyzed by using the point-to-point method, entropy weight method, gravity model and two-way fixed effect model. Based on the data of 8 cities in the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone from 2010 to 2020 in China, Xuzhou's innovation primacy ranks first in the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone, which accords with its status as the central city of the region. Its index has been rising, and its development trend is also good. However, the overall innovation ability of the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone is unbalanced; the overall economic foundation is not solid enough. In terms of knowledge innovation, R&D innovation and industrial innovation, the industrialization level, around the activation of Xuzhou city vitality, enhances the Xuzhou innovation radiation drive, leading to a decrease in the Huaihai Economic Zone. Finally, some corresponding suggestions on innovation primacy have been proposed for the city of the Huaihai Economic Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the knowledge economy era, innovation has become a key emphasis for urban competitions. This paper constructs a theoretical research framework that integrates the basic understandings, influencing factors and ensuing results of intercity innovative competition relations. On the basis of data from the general programs of the National Natural Science Foundation of China from 2005 to 2019, this paper constructs intercity innovative competition relations in China, analyses their spatial distribution and quantitative characteristics, and quantitatively investigates the impact of urban innovation capacity and multidimensional proximity (e.g., geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity) on intercity innovative competition relations through a negative binomial model. The study obtained the following findings: (1) In terms of the overall intercity innovative competition relations, the intensity of China's intercity innovative competition relations gradually increased from 2005 to 2019, with a spatial clustering towards cities with high administrative ranks (e.g., municipalities directly under the central government, sub-provincial cities and provincial capitals); Beijing is always at the centre of innovative competition relations, but its standing has slightly slipped in recent years. (2) From the perspective of disciplines, cities can become benchmarks in particular fields of innovative competitions by competing according to their disciplinary strengths; intercity innovative competition relations in China vary across various academic disciplines. (3) In terms of influencing factors, urban innovation capacity has significant positive effects on intercity innovative competition relations; geographical proximity, institutional proximity and cognitive proximity all have significant positive effects on innovative competition relations; and interactions occur between multidimensional proximities, including a complementary effect between geographical proximity and institutional proximity, a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and geographical proximity, and a substitutive effect between cognitive proximity and institutional proximity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In China, in recent years it has become a prevailing trend to promote the spatial maturity and high-quality transformation of new towns, yet there are few quantitative methods to evaluate their urban morphological maturity. From the perspective of quantitative urban morphology, this paper integrates street view data and cutting-edge analytical techniques into classic urban morphological study and develops a quantitative index for evaluating urban morphological maturity that fits Chinese cities by adjusting the indicators in line with the unique characteristics of the built environment of Chinese cities. Focusing on five new towns, as well as a historic area, of Shanghai, the paper evaluates their urban morphological maturity with this quantitative index and verifies its validity by comparing the evaluation result with that of expert consensus. It then proposes some design guidelines that may provide robust support for the regeneration of these new towns. Given its reliance on the multi-source data of open access and ready availability, this index holds promise for evaluating the urban morphological maturity of other new towns, to provide support for urban form improvement from both holistic and detailed perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the urban human settlements of 21 megacities and supercities from 2011 to 2020 in China and improve urban human settlements planning and management. First, the data envelopment analysis (DEA)–Malmquist–Tobit model is used to conduct a static and dynamic evaluation of the efficiency of urban human settlements and analyze the main factors that affect it. Then, the coupling coordination degree model is utilized to quantitatively evaluate the coupling coordination degree between urban human settlements and high-quality economic development. Finally, the GM (1, 1) model is established to predict each city's average input–output index during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. It is hoped that this paper could promote sustainable urban development. The empirical results are as follows: (1) the technical efficiency (TE) from CRS DEA of human settlements in China's megacities and supercities is low. Management and technology are the shortcomings in the development of urban human settlements; (2) total factor productivity (TFP) has shown negative growth. Technical progress efficiency (TC) is the key to improving the efficiency of urban human settlements; (3) urban infrastructure has the most significant role when promoting the efficiency of urban human settlements; (4) the coupling degree between the efficiency of human settlements and high-quality economic development is mainly high-level coupling. The degree of coordination is gradually rising; and (5) during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, the investment in human settlements in both types of cities will continue to increase. With the continuous expansion of investment, the output will be imbalanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the digital revolution deepens, the digital economy (DE) is reshaping the global industrial structure (IS). This paper utilizes data from 280 Chinese cities between 2007 and 2020 to conduct an in-depth analysis of how DE propels the upgrading of IS and explores the role of human capital (HC) in this process. The research indicates that DE significantly fosters the optimization of IS. Additionally, it was discovered that the growth of HC plays a pivotal mediating role in this evolution, complementing existing research on the relationship between higher education and industrial upgrading. By adopting spatial econometric methods, this study unveils the spillover effects of DE in geographical space, identifying a positive influence on the industrial upgrading of surrounding regions. The paper also confirms the nonlinear characteristics of DE's impact on IS upgrading, which manifests as a pronounced inverted U-shaped trend, marking a novel discovery. Further findings suggest that in regions with more advanced artificial intelligence technologies, the impact of DE on industrial optimization is more significant, highlighting the role of regional disparities in the digital transformation. In conclusion, the paper proposes policy recommendations based on the research findings to facilitate the development of DE and the elevation of IS levels, thereby promoting high-quality economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the panel data of 275 prefecture-level cities in China in 2003–2019 and spatial Durbin model to verify the impact of environmental regulation and industrial agglomeration on air pollution. This paper finds that the enforcement intensity of environmental regulations (ER) is not consistent among cities. The effects of strict ER on air pollution in local city are the inverted-U-shape curve. The effects of more stringent ER in adjacent cities j on air pollution in city i are the U-shape curve. The more stringent ER in local city may lead to the decrease in agglomeration of manufacturing sectors (AM), thereby reducing air pollution. The polluting firms may shift production from neighboring cities j with stringent ER to city i with lax ER, thereby leading to the increase in AM, which aggravate air pollution in city i. The more stringent ER in local city i may lead to the increase in agglomeration of productive service industry (AS), thereby reducing air pollution. To avoid the transfer of polluting industrial sectors, the paper suggests that the more stringent implementation of ER should become nationwide actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates how National Eco-industrial Demonstration Parks (NEDP) in China affects carbon emission efficiency. The difference-in-differences (DID) strategy is used for analysis. This paper finds that the construction of NEDP is conducive to the improvement of carbon emission efficiency, and the findings remain robust through placebo tests and propensity score matching. Heterogeneity analysis shows NEDP construction has greater utility on carbon efficiency in non-resource-based cities as well as in environmentally friendly cities. The mechanism analysis found that green technology innovation, industrial restructuring, and the relocation of industrial enterprises are effective ways to improve carbon efficiency in NEDP. Finally, this paper finds that the construction of NEDP has obvious spatial spillover effects on carbon efficiency, which can effectively heighten the carbon efficiency level of this locality and nearby areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The market-oriented reform of China's power market has gradually transformed power prices from government pricing to market regulation, which not only promotes the production efficiency of industrial enterprises, but also inhibits the excessive consumption and waste of power by residential power users. This paper uses the data from 2006–2018 combined with the precious industrial power price data and macroeconomic data of 100 cities in China, takes the marketization reform of the power market in 2015 as a quasi-natural experiment, and uses the difference-in-differences model to empirically study the causal relationship between power market reform and air pollution for the first time. The study found that power market reform can reduce air pollution, and this conclusion is also supported by a number of robustness tests. Mechanism analysis shows that power market reform can reduce air pollution by improving power market efficiency, promoting technological progress, and reducing power consumption. Heterogeneity analysis shows that power market reform can suppress air pollution more significantly in eastern regions, regions with severe air pollution, and regions with larger populations. This paper not only provides new research perspectives and research ideas for air pollution prevention and control, but also provides empirical evidence for the positive externalities of power market reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green economy is the core content of the high-quality economic development, and the digital economy is the new driving force to accelerate the realization of high-quality economic development. In this regard, this paper selects 248 resource-based cities in China from 2011 to 2019 as the research objects and uses the fixed effect model and mediation effect model to test the relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity. We get the following conclusions: First, there is the nonlinear relationship between digital economy and regional green total factor productivity, and this relationship shows the inverted U-shape. Secondly, digital economy can influence regional green total factor productivity through the path transmission mechanism of regional technological innovation, industrial structure, and environmental regulation. Finally, the effect of digital economy on regional green total factor productivity is heterogeneous, especially in the eastern region and cities with high human capital level. Based on the digital economy, the findings of this paper provide theoretical basis and reference suggestions for promoting the green development of regional economy. The government should attach importance to regional green development, actively guide the digital economy to promote green development, accelerate the development of the digital economy, and achieve high-quality economic development finally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the green production efficiency (GPE) and spatial divergence of the hog breeding industry, with the aim of providing a foundation for the rational layout of hog breeding and promoting the industry's high-quality development. The paper uses the SBM model to estimate GPE in 29 provinces, cities, and districts of China from 2006 to 2019. Furthermore, it analyzes the spatial divergence of GPE and its driving factors using divergence indexes and the Geodetector. The results show that China's GPE of the hog breeding industry increased from 0.409 to 0.496 between 2006 and 2019. The highest efficiency occurred during the I-period, while the lowest efficiency was observed during the II-period. The highest efficiency was in the key development region, and the lowest efficiency was in the potential growth region. The spatial divergence of GPE in the hog breeding industry expanded, with labor input, non-point source pollution, resource endowment, and environmental load bearing being the main driving factors for the expansion in each period. The potential growth region had the largest spatial divergence, mainly affected by resource endowment. In contrast, the constrained development region had the smallest spatial divergence, mainly affected by resource endowment and pollutant emissions. The spatial divergence of moderate and key development regions was considerable, mainly affected by environmental investment, environmental load bearing, and pollutant emissions. Therefore, the key to improving the GPE of the hog breeding industry is to promote the adoption of advanced technology, such as labor-saving, material-saving, and emission reduction technologies. Moreover, several actions should be taken to reduce the spatial divergence among different regions, such as integrated breeding, clean standards, large-scale breeding, and high-end boutique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the effect of highways on economic growth has been widely discussed, its role in green technological innovation has not yet attracted attention facing today's strong emphasis on the green economy. To fill this gap, this paper aims to provide empirical evidence by investigating the effects of highways on regional green technological innovation in China. The paper elaborates theoretically on three mechanisms through which the development of highways may influence regional green technological innovation, namely the agglomeration effect, spatial spillover effect, and network effect. To advance the empirical analysis, this paper constructs a spatial Durbin model accounting for spatial interdependencies among regions. Unlike previous literature, this paper uses "the strength of economic linkage" to indicate the development of highways in each city and discusses geographic distance and time-distance effect (spatio-temporal effect) resulting from highways. Using panel data of 105 prefecture-level cities in China's Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2001 to 2013, we find that: (1) highway has a significant role in promoting regional green technological innovation; (2) significant spatial spillover effects resulting from highways exist and the magnitude of the influence varies with geographical and temporal distance effect. Our findings provide references for developing transportation infrastructure and green innovation in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transportation infrastructure is essential to regional innovation systems, and the high-speed railway (HSR) is reshaping China's regional innovation pattern. Previous research lacks an analysis of the impact of opening an HSR on urban traditional and green innovation. This paper uses urban panel data from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2019 to study the impact and mechanism of opening an HSR on urban innovation from a comparative perspective. The results of a multi-period difference-in-difference (DID) model show that opening an HSR can promote both traditional and green urban innovation, especially impacting urban green innovation. A further analysis of the mechanism of action found that high-quality talent and communication infrastructures are two crucial mechanisms of transmission for the opening of an HSR to affect urban innovation. In addition, heterogeneity analysis showed that opening an HSR promotes traditional urban and green innovation for cities in general. However, for central cities, the opening of an HSR has no significant impact on green innovation and has little effect on promoting traditional innovation. The policy inspiration of this paper is that, in the face of an innovation gap and the inequality of regional innovation and development, the construction of HSRs should be promoted according to local conditions. Construction and layout resources should be shifted from central cities to general cities to narrow the regional innovation gap. In addition, it is necessary to pay attention to the roles of the flow of high-quality talent and communication infrastructure in promoting urban innovation and sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The organizational forms of infrastructure in China are divided into two categories, the traditional Public Procurement Model (PUB) model and Public–Private Partnership(PPP) model. The main difference is the separation or binding of the construction and operation phases. A systematic understanding is needed of how Chinese local governments choose between these two models. In this paper, we take public capital congestion and local government objectives as the entry point to study the effects of both on PPP choice. Firstly, by constructing an endogenous economic growth model under the PPP model, and comparing it with the model under the PUB model, this paper initially explains how the rise in public capital congestion affects the choice of the PPP by growth-oriented local governments. Then the data from prefecture-level cities from 2009–2018 are utilized to conduct empirical tests. We find that urban economic growth pressures have a positive effect on the choice of PPP when the congestion of public capital increases. Furthermore, the implementation of PPP is indeed conducive to economic performance, and its core mechanism is to provide more infrastructure (like roads) rather than tax competition. The PPP model is more sustainable. We are the first to employ both modeling approach and the empirical research to address the implementation of Public–Private Partnership in China. And we have systematically analyzed the conditions and results of PPP selection by local governments. It formulates the Chinese PPP theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of environment in promoting happiness has been well known, but the impact of the government's ecological environment policy on residents' happiness remains to be explored. This paper uses the first batch of pilot policies for the construction of eco-civilized cities in China (Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guizhou) as a quasi-natural experiment to empirically study the impact of ecological civilization construction in China on residents' subjective well-being. Using the data from the China Household Finance Survey and difference in difference method, we find that Chinese ecological civilization construction has significantly improved the happiness of local residents. Mechanism analysis shows that the "happiness effect" mechanism of Chinese ecological civilization construction by improving household income, health level, and the living environment of residents. In addition, the "happiness effect" of Chinese ecological civilization construction shows group heterogeneity, and ecological civilization construction plays a larger role in promoting the well-being of residents of low-asset families, urban families, and families that own their own houses. Finally, the "happiness effect" of Chinese ecological civilization construction shows regional heterogeneity, and the construction of ecological civilization has a more striking effect on improving the well-being of residents in Jiangxi province and Guizhou province. According to the authors' knowledge, the present study is the first to study the impact of China's macroeconomic environmental policies on residents' happiness, and the present study contributes to the research on residents' happiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents new evidence on knowledge flows in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region of China, involving 43 cities (districts) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, based on the invention patent transfer data from the State Intellectual Property Office of China. First, the characteristics of technology flows in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are analyzed in terms of changes in the number of flows, types of flowing subjects and spatial distribution characteristics. Then, a multi-level patent technology flow network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region was constructed, and the structural characteristics and node characteristics of each level network were explored separately. The key findings of the study are as follows. (1) The number of patented technology flows has been growing over time, showing obvious phase characteristics during the study period. As a whole, the intra-city (district) technology flow in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is higher than the inter-city (district). (2) The multi-level patent technology flow network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region shows dynamic characteristics, with more and more mobile subjects participating in the patent technology flow network, some network nodes becoming closer to each other, and the trend of small group technology flow increasing significantly. (3) Enterprises are the core hub of the patent technology flow network in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Individual invention patent technology transfer also occupies a high proportion and the participation of universities and colleges in the patent technology flow network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is gradually increasing. (4) Over time, the flow of patent technology in the 43 cities (districts) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has gradually become active and no longer relies excessively on a particular city (district) for patent technology transfer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]