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We examine how broad changes in work arrangements and lifestyles brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic have affected households' location decisions. Using data on over 360,000 residential, interstate moves over the last 5 years, we find that more than 12% of moves were directly influenced by the pandemic. Among pandemic-influenced movers, over 15% of households cite that remote work influenced their move. Lifestyle-related (job-related) migration increased (decreased) significantly, particularly for the set of households who are likely to have access to remote work. We further find that these changes in migration patterns are positively related to post-pandemic economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanity faces a wide range of freshwater challenges and threats, from the failure to provide safe water and sanitation to all, to ecological disruptions and degradation, increasing violence over water resources, accelerating climate change, and failing institutions and infrastructure. In recent years, crises around minerals, energy, food, and water have stimulated new debates over definitions and concepts of sustainability—including whether the world is reaching a point where natural resource limits will constrain growing populations and economic expansion. Understanding the concept of "peak water" and the strategies that might be available to avoid these constraints is key to moving toward a more efficient and sustainable water future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The opening of equity markets to foreign investment by developing countries appears to generate an enormously large positive growth effect (see Bekaert, Harvey, and Lundblad (2005), Journal of Financial Economics 77, 3–55) in spite of a relatively small role of such markets for financing investment in most economies. We propose a spillover channel from equity market opening to lower costs of bank loans, which helps to explain this puzzle. From analyzing bank loan data associated with China's introduction of the Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors program, we find significant support for this channel. Furthermore, we show that a reduction in the risk premium in loans is an important mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Encouraged by the ubiquitous belief entrepreneurship's value as a source of economic growth, for many governments developing entrepreneurial ecosystems has become elemental to their development strategies, representing a prominent trend in public entrepreneurship policy. However, the entrepreneurial ecosystems field is recent, undertheorized, and fragmented, limiting its capacity to explain the effects of entrepreneurial ecosystem policies. Advancing research is crucial for advising policy makers on how to formulate effective entrepreneurial ecosystem policies that are decisive for developing ecosystems. Lacking such solid and coherent theoretical foundations, entrepreneurial ecosystem policies risk being ineffective, while policy makers tend to simply replicate entrepreneurial ecosystem policies from other entrepreneurial ecosystems. We aim to address this issue by providing guidance on key parameters to inform the formulation of entrepreneurial ecosystem policies. The development of entrepreneurial ecosystems requires customizing a mix of policies adapted to the unique characteristics of each ecosystem, promoting the quality of entrepreneurship to ensure the allocation of resources to productive use, and addressing the complexity of entrepreneurial ecosystems with a holistic policy approach. Based on our findings, we present a conceptual framework and discuss three parameters for policy formulation: top-down versus bottom-up formulation, support to systemic versus framework conditions, and holistic versus siloed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The access and utilization of global knowledge flows are becoming increasingly relevant for individuals, organizations, and countries in order to foster knowledge creation, innovativeness, productivity, and economic growth. The importance of global knowledge flows is undisputed and substantial research has been conducted to understand the different transmission channels. However, the underlying characteristics, determinants, and impacts of global knowledge flows are only partly comprehended and remain to be explored in more detail. The purpose of this special section is to bring together different perspectives on global knowledge flows in order to provide novel insights and expand our understanding of how to utilize them. After a brief review of the relevant literature, we discuss the six papers in this special section and conclude with overall theory and policy implications and highlight key avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-commerce is a key aspect of the modern digital economy, which is actively developing in the context of globalization. The importance of e-commerce lies in its ability to promote economic growth, create new opportunities for entrepreneurship, and provide consumers with access to a wide range of goods and services. This article analyzes the legal regulation of e-commerce in the context of the globalization of the digital economy, examining the experience of countries such as the USA, Singapore, China, and the European Union. The article outlines the main principles of legal regulation of e-commerce under Ukraine's national legislation and highlights the key challenges facing legal regulation in this area. The experience of foreign countries shows that effective legal regulation of e-commerce is possible with the harmonization of legislation, enhanced protection of consumer rights and personal data, ensuring cybersecurity, and supporting innovation. The USA, Singapore, China, and the EU have different approaches to regulating e-commerce, but all aim to create a favorable legal environment for the development of this market segment. The article also examines the main features of legal relationships in the field of e-commerce, as defined by the Law of Ukraine "On E-commerce". It highlights the rights and obligations of participants in electronic transactions, the procedure for concluding electronic contracts, the protection of consumer rights and personal data, and the responsibility of participant s for non-fulfillment of their obligations. Based on the analysis of foreign experience and national legislation, recommendations are formulated for improving the legal regulation of e-commerce in Ukraine. Further research in this area may focus on studying new technological solutions and their impact on legal regulation, analyzing the effectiveness of existing legal norms, and developing recommendations for their improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mexico's declaration of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in 2017 marked a significant territorial shift with far-reaching geopolitical implications. The establishment of SEZs represents the culmination of a three-decade period – starting with neoliberal reforms initiated in 1992 – during which Mexican state policies have increasingly prioritized hydrocarbon and mineral extraction. The proliferation of SEZs, or designated ‘development poles’, underscores a concurrent expansion of sacrifice zones – places abandoned, polluted, rendered invisible, or outright eliminated in pursuit of ostensibly greater common goods such as economic growth, progress, and more recently, sustainable development or decarbonization. Drawing on findings from 21 semi-structured interviews, this article elucidates how green extractivism shapes spatial politics in Mexico. Moreover, it provides a systematic categorization of both existing and emerging ‘green’ and ‘indirect’ (‘grey’) sacrifice zones as the state continues its push toward development as terracide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between political instability, economic growth, and Greece's overall stock market index (ASE) returns from 1970 to 2018. The aim is to measure and quantify the impact of political instability on economic growth and the overall stock market returns. The analysis includes six different variables as proxies that quantify political instability. A new Socio-Political Instability index is constructed from these variables by employing the principal component analysis. The empirical part employs GARCH, GARCH-M, Granger causality tests and OLS regressions. The paper provides new insightful results and a new measure of political instability for Greece. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critiques the neo-Malthusian proposition that drastic global population reduction is essential to counteract the current climate emergency. It applies a new materialist, rhizomatic and more-than-human ontology of capitalism based Deleuze and Guattari’s analysis of the ‘capitalist axiomatic’: the free flows of commodities, capital and labour characteristic of capitalist production. Three sections address these rhizomatic flows, considering ‘extractive capitalism’, economic growth, and population growth through this DeleuzoGuattarian lens. The paper concludes, contra Malthus, that while growth in the global human population is placing strain on the environmental capacity to support it, it is the complex, rhizomatic interactions within the capitalist axiomatic that are producing anthropogenic climate change. Remedies short of a wholesale global shift from a capitalist economy are proposed to address this global crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As globalization and economic development accelerate, Chinese tea has emerged as an essential export commodity in the international market. China boasts abundant tea resources, which have significantly promoted economic growth through tea exports. This study analyses the relevant literature and the prevailing state of China's tea export trade. Using statistical data on tea exports and empirical research methodologies, this investigation examines the key determinants influencing the high-quality development of China's tea export sector. The research integrates relevant frontier theories from management science and engineering to propose tailored recommendations. The study reveals that while the industry has demonstrated robust economic growth, it is confronted with challenges such as the need for enhanced brand visibility and adherence to international quality benchmarks. The research findings highlight the positive influence of the "Belt and Road" initiative on the tea export trade, which advocates for strategic international collaboration. This study concludes with policy recommendations that underscore the importance of bolstering the international dissemination of Chinese tea culture, standardizing export practices, and fostering global cooperation to augment the industry's high-quality development trajectory. The findings aim to enhance the export capabilities of Chinese tea and foster the robust growth of the tea export industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovation is the source of economic growth. Innovation in a region comes from its own knowledge creation and knowledge spillovers from other regions. Previous studies showed that R&D factors flow benefits knowledge spillover, thereby promoting economic growth. But these studies ignored the impact of a region's knowledge-absorptive capacity on knowledge spillovers. Ignoring the impact of regional absorptive capacity means that the knowledge spillover from the same R&D factors flow is the same, clearly inconsistent with reality. This thesis analyzes the impact of R&D factors flow on economic growth and explores the moderating effect of regional absorptive capacity on the relationship between R&D factors flow and economic growth from theoretical and empirical perspectives. First, we construct a knowledge creation and diffusion model of the new economic geography, including regional absorptive capacity, and analyze the theoretical logic of the flow of R&D factors and regional absorptive capacity influencing economic growth. Second, we employ spatial econometric models to examine the impact of R&D factors flow and regional absorptive capacity on economic growth, utilizing panel data of 30 provinces in China from 2008 to 2021. The results demonstrated a spatial positive correlation between regional economic growth in China. The R&D factors flow could have significantly promoted not just a region's direct economic growth, but also the economic growth of surrounding regions via spatial spillover effects. Furthermore, the stronger the regional absorptive capacity, the greater the direct effects and spatial spillover effects of the R&D factors flow on economic growth. The novelty of this article is to introduce regional absorptive capacity into the theoretical model, refine the methodology for assessing regional absorptive capacity in empirical research, and examine its moderating effect between the inflow of R&D factors and regional economic growth. This article reveals that the positive impact of the inflow of R&D factors on spatial spillovers and economic growth varies depending on regional absorptive capacity. According to the conclusions above, enhancing regional absorptive capacity is equally important as facilitating the flow of R&D factors. Therefore, it is vital for a region to strengthen its absorptive capacity for new knowledge while promoting R&D factors flow. The study provides valuable policy insights for accelerating the flow of innovation factors, enhancing regional absorptive capacity, and consequently promoting long-term sustainable economic development in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it has been more than two decades since the completion of the first study establishing the tourism-led growth hypothesis (TLGH), this area of research still appears within the scientific literature in its analysis of tourism from an economic standpoint. In this regard, numerous studies have analysed the relationship between tourism and economic growth, usually measured using the arrival of tourists, tourism income and/or expenses for the first dimension and with GDP for the second. A first comprehensive review of these articles for the period 2002–2013, based on 95 peer-reviewed articles, was carried out, in which the main results obtained up to that time were evaluated. After this initial review, the interest found in the academic literature in its analysis of TLGH, far from diminishing, has continued with the publication of numerous articles on this field. Accordingly, 82 peer-reviewed empirical articles published during the 2014–2022 period are included in this analysis on a more current situation, along with the trends in the analysis of TLGH, determining whether the main conclusions based on the results, methodologies, measured variables or the destinations under study have remained the same compared to the previous decade or if there are any significant changes found within the scientific literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutions are an important determinant of long-run economic growth. However, most studies only examine this relationship over a relatively short period and do not regularly include institutional variables in growth models. This article applies the pooled mean group (PMG) estimator to a panel of 18 OECD countries over 138 years. We find evidence that institutions matter for economic growth in the very long-run and conclude that economists should include them in any empirical application of the neoclassical growth model. Our result is robust to various robustness checks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between insurance development, population, economic growth, and health expenditures for a panel of 31 OECD countries over the period 1995–2021. A dynamic panel data analysis based on cointegration, FMOLS, DOLS, VECM, and Granger causality tests is employed to suggest for the existence of a long-run relationship among variables. The long-run results show that insurance development, national income, and population exhibit positive impacts on health expenditures. The results reveal that insurance factor has larger income effects than substitution effects on health expenditures. Regarding the short-run causal relationship between the variables, the empirical results suggest that economic growth strengthens health expenditure growth, while insurance growth reduces it. In the short-run, insurance development has a crowding-out effect since it produces larger substitution effects than income effects. The results provide political implications that governments need to concern the short-run crowding-out effect of private insurance sections on health expenditures when making fiscal policies on public health expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public health events (PHEs) have emerged as significant threats to human life, health, and economic growth. PHEs, such as COVID-19, have prompted a reevaluation for enhanced regular prevention and control (RPC). In this study, we focus on the core concept of prevention and control intensity (PCI), and establish a neoclassical economic growth model from the long-term and macro perspective to balance life protection and economic growth. The model construct the mechanism of PCI on economic growth through population dynamics and capital accumulation under the backdrop of RPC for PHEs. We find the conditions for PCI when the economy achieves steady state, and provides an algorithm establishing the optimal strategy that maximises per capita disposable income based on the optimal PCI and consumption. Simulation result quantifies an inverted U-shaped relationship between PCI and capital per capita, output per capita and consumption per capita in the steady state. The model suggests that, given the PHEs of inducing potential unemployment shock, it is worthwhile to combine the implementation of moderate PCI with coordinated policies of income distribution. Highlights: • Building a Neoclassical economic growth model under public health events (PHEs). • Model links regular prevention and control (RPC) to macroeconomic factors. • Exploring mechanism of RPC for PHEs on economic growth. • Appropriate prevention and control intensity can engender economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historically, economic growth has been closely coupled to carbon emissions responsible for climate change, but to stabilize global mean temperature, net-zero carbon emissions are necessary. Some economies have begun to reduce emissions while continuing to grow, but this decoupling is not fast enough to achieve global climate targets. Subnational climate actions seem to be crucial for the achievement of these targets. Here, we uncover the effectiveness of subnational efforts by estimating decoupling rates and CO2 emission intensities over the last three decades for over 1,500 subnational regions, encompassing 85% of global emissions, using global data on reported economic output and gridded production-based emissions. Thirty percent of regions with available data have fully decoupled, with higher-income and historically carbon-intensive regions exhibiting higher rates of decoupling and declining emission intensity. Countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development with greater spending on subnational climate actions show higher decoupling rates, as do subnational regions in EU countries where climate policies have been implemented, highlighting the effectiveness of subnational policies. Moreover, subnational analysis reveals greater variance of decoupling rates within national boundaries than between them and that countries with weaker governance typically show higher variance of decoupling within their borders. If recent rates of production-based carbon decoupling continue, less than half of subnational regions would reach net-zero before 2050, even when accounting for observed acceleration via socioeconomic development and assuming no interregional carbon leakage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To assess the impact of China's regional emergency logistics response capabilities on economic growth sustainability, this study develops a set of comprehensive indicators. It applies the entropy weight method combined with the TOPSIS method to evaluate these capabilities across regions. Based on panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2012 to 2021, this study employs panel models, panel quantile regression, and panel threshold models to analyze the impact of emergency logistics response capability on sustainable economic growth. By measuring the regional emergency logistics response capability and examining its effects on the sustainability of economic growth, this research provides foreign investors with a clearer understanding of the ability of different regions in China to handle unexpected public incidents. This, in turn, helps reduce investment uncertainty, mitigate certain risks, and offers valuable insights for enhancing the efficiency of international investments in China. Key findings are: (1) Since 2018, the establishment of the Ministry of Emergency Management has significantly improved China's regional emergency logistics capabilities, with the eastern region outperforming the central and western regions. (2) Enhancing China's emergency logistics response capability helps improve the sustainability level of economic growth. This reflects how China's emergency management departments can mitigate the adverse impacts of public emergencies on economic growth by transforming social logistics into emergency logistics. (3) As emergency response capabilities have strengthened, their impact on economic sustainability initially decreased but later increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the impacts of urbanization, industrial growth, and carbon emissions on Angola's economic growth by employing annual time series data from 1991 to 2020. This intends to strengthen Angola's economic policies using the Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) bounds test approach, Johansen cointegration, and vector error correction model (VECM). The results show that: (1) Economic development will be realized at the expense of environmental protection; (2) carbon emissions and industrial growth reinforce the country's economic growth in the short and long runs, while urbanization has no vital influence on economic growth; and (3) a bidirectional causality between economic growth and carbon emissions and a unidirectional causality relationship ranging from urbanization and economic growth to industry value‐added. Our findings encourage the country's leaders to consider urbanization and industrial growth while reducing carbon emissions. The country's priorities should be skills training, developing clean technologies, gradually increasing renewable energy share in the mix of energy, and encouraging industries to turn to clean energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzed the impact of macroeconomic variables (manufacturing, real exchange rate, government expenditure, and gross fixed capital formation) on GDP growth in Ghana. Utilizing secondary data from the World Development Indicators of the World Bank (1991–2021), we employed a hierarchical Bayesian linear model with interaction effects to assess these relationships. The results indicate that the real exchange rate, manufacturing, and government expenditure have a positive influence on GDP growth, while gross fixed capital formation exhibits a moderately negative effect. To enhance economic growth, it is crucial to optimize capital investments, bolster export competitiveness through targeted policies, and invest in manufacturing innovation. These findings offer actionable insights for policymakers aiming to stimulate economic growth in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThe aim of this article is to discuss the neoliberal project as a colonial determinant of the environmental policy in Brazil since 1972. The 1972 Stockholm Conference is used as a milestone for analysis. The results show that, since the military regime in the 1970s and through successive elected governments, whether right- or left-wing, federal policies have consistently aimed to boost the country’s economic growth. Even the few socio-environmental advances identified during the first administrations of the Labour Party (2003–2010) resulted from processes focused on the ‘deterritorialisation’ of Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. The ultra-liberal project adopted by the Bolsonaro administration (2019–2022) accelerated these processes and promoted an aggressive denialist, anti-environmental and anti-Indigenous agenda. Given the current political scenario (Lula administration 2023–2026), this study makes the following main contributions: it offers a new orientation for the environmental and Indigenous agendas developed by the progressive sector in Brazil and advocates for a science orientated towards contributing to a new environmental and Indigenous agenda in the country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis paper investigates the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on zombie firms at both the macro and micro levels, revealing a significant negative effect on their prevalence at the city level. Our results show that FDI accelerates zombie firm exits as local governments cease subsidies, recognizing that foreign firms can sustain local economic growth. This result is robust to alternative methods of identifying zombies, alternative measures for FDI, and diverse regression methodologies. This shift is predicated on the recognition that foreign firms can sustain local economic growth. Consequently, financial constraints and profitability among zombie firms deteriorate significantly, while healthy firms remain unaffected. These results support the crowding-out effect but find no evidence for technology spillover, challenging some conventional expectations about the benefits of FDI. Our findings contribute to a nuanced understanding of FDI spillover effects and its role in the targeted disposal of non-viable firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, innovation has become recognized as a key driver of economic growth. This study investigated the relationship between innovation and economic growth in 32 African countries from 2006 to 2017. The linear regression panel corrected standard errors (PCSEs) regression estimation was used to analyze the data. PCSE estimation accounted for heteroskedasticity and possible contemporaneous correlation across panels. The findings showed a positive association between the innovation index and economic growth. This result remained true even when research and development (R&D) expenditure (the conventional measure of innovation) was considered for a handful of countries. This finding highlights the significance of innovation in fostering economic growth. The study also found that domestic investment and human capital encouraged economic growth. The study estimated an endogenous growth model with an alternative measure of innovation. Based on the findings, the study recommends that African countries provide financial and material support for R&D in public and private institutions through funding, imparting entrepreneurial research attitudes in academics, and providing an enabling environment for business enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After decades of war, Mozambique experienced sustained economic growth and poverty reduction from the mid-1990s. However, these positive dynamics started to revert from 2015. Meanwhile, inequality stagnated in the period 1996/97–2008/09, before markedly increasing afterwards. In this study, we analyse some of the most relevant indicators of inequality for Mozambique and their trends over the last 25 years. Using real per capita consumption as the main welfare aggregate, we look at various indicators of inequality, including the consumption distribution, percentiles and percentile ratios, growth incidence curves, Lorenz curves, and Gini indices. In addition, we discuss spatial inequality. Overall, we find that until 2014/15, consumption increased for the whole population, but it did so much more for richer households; conversely, in the last few years, consumption has reduced across the distribution, but the relative consumption-gap between better- and worse-off people has continued to increase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines policy uncertainty on mergers and acquisitions (M&A) in South Africa, emphasising the extensive regulatory review by the Competition Commission under the 'public interest consideration' criterion. It aims to identify the cost implications and uncertainties associated with M&A transactions to propose measures to reduce these uncertainties. Utilising qualitative methodologies, the study gathers empirical evidence through interviews with companies and competition lawyers involved in the M&A processes. The findings reveal significant concerns about economic uncertainty, merger control, and policy and regulation impacting investment decisions. Policy uncertainty, particularly in the context of merger regulation, imposes substantial cost implications and delays on M&A activities, negatively affecting investment, growth, and economic development. It emphasises the necessity for a regulatory framework that minimises disruptions and costs to business participants. The findings suggest that addressing policy uncertainty and streamlining regulatory processes are crucial steps towards enhancing South Africa's attractiveness as an investment destination and fostering economic growth and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has taken sustainable development strategies seriously in recent years, aiming at reducing energy consumption and environmental pollutants emissions. This research empirically evaluates the sustainable innovation efficiency (SIE) in Chinafrom the perspective of energy and environmental constraints. Furthermore, the relationship between SIE and economic growth is tested through Granger causality test. The results indicate that SIE in China varies obviously in different regions. Granger causality runs only from economic growth to SIE and not the other way round. Economic growth is causative factor of sustainable innovation, indicating that China's sustainable innovation has not yet achieved coordinated development with the economy. Our findings also provide useful decision-supporting insights for Chinese policymakers to promote coordinated development of regional sustainable innovation and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive green growth is a style of long-term development that prioritises economic growth, social fairness, human well-being, and energy conservation. This research explores the impact of industrial intellectualisation on regional inclusive green growth using panel data from 30 provinces from 2006 to 2018. The research begins by calculating the level of industrial intellectualisation and inclusive green growth employing the entropy technique in China. Second, the benchmark regression results show that industrial intellectualisation boosts regional inclusive green growth significantly. This is true for a variety of robustness tests, including IV regression. Furthermore, spatial autocorrelation exists in regional inclusive green growth, and industrial intellectualisation has a favourable stimulating influence as well as a considerable spatial repercussions on regional inclusive green growth. Furthermore, the mediating effect model is employed to explore the mechanism of industrial intellectualisation's effects on inclusive green growth. The findings demonstrate that industrial intellectualisation has an effect on regional inclusive green growth via industrial structure upgrades, urbanisation, education, and financial development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multidimensional proximity has been considered the important factor affecting regional scientific collaboration network (RSCN) and has received extensive attention from scholars. This paper constructs a cross-RSCN based on co-authorship across 31 regions in China, incorporates traditional multidimensional proximity and network embedding proximity into a unified framework and proposes a five-factor driving model for dissecting the mechanism of cross-regional scientific collaborative innovation (CI). The results show that the scientific collaboration network is gradually becoming saturated with connections, and the polarisation of cross-regional collaboration is increasingly serious. The collaboration intensity is affected by the co-movement of several proximity factors, among which geographic proximity (GP) is the main but not the sole one that positively affects the cross-regional scientific collaboration. Based on the decision tree model, we conclude that structure proximity may compensate for low GP and low economic proximity (EP) on cross-regional CI performance. The positive effect of network location proximity on regional scientific collaboration is more sensitive when the EP is not high. The findings provide significant guidance for scientific research institutions, universities and regional policy-makers to select appropriate partners as well as network embedding strategies, and further contribute to long-term improvement of scientific innovation performance and stable regional economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spain's economic growth over the last few decades constitutes a rather distinctive case in post-World War II Europe, which has attracted international academic interest. This paper examines the relationship between Spain's military expenditure and economic growth during the period 1954-2021 to shed further light. Using the recently developed method of Dynamic Autoregressive Distributive Lag (DARDL) simulation proposed by Jordan and Philips (2018) and the Kernel-Based Regularized Least Squares (KRLS) technique which accounts for potential non-linearities, interactions, and heterogeneous effects, this paper tests the short and long – run equilibrium relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Spain. Furthermore, with the cumulative sum (CUSUM) and cumulative sum of squares (CUSUMSQ) tests, we examine the stability of the above relationship. The results show that there is a positive short and long – run relationship between military expenditure and economic growth in Spain during the period under study. However, when we stratify our sample (before and after Spain's democratization), the positive relationship is sustained only during the years of the non – democratic regime. This has further policy implications as policymakers in Spain need to carefully balance national security concerns with the need for sustained economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes and analyzes the process and results of the construction of a framework to assess the sustainability of alternative food networks in Mexico City, using a transdisciplinary and systemic approach. We generated a practical tool with twenty-two evaluation criteria linked to five themes: "care for nature and waste reduction;" "equity and economic viability;" "quality, diversity and local products;" "social equity, transparency and democracy," and "learning and collaboration." Our method allowed us to develop common languages and context-appropriate tools for sustainability assessment; identify trade-offs and leverage points; and promote collective learning in alternative food networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global environmental problems, especially those related to water contamination brought on by rapid industrialization and economic growth, are among the most dangerous threats facing humanity today. In this research work, Al3+ based metal–organic framework with 1,4‐benzenedicarboxylic acid (H2BDC) linker has been synthesized by a simple and economic coprecipitation method. The obtained Al‐BDC MOF was utilized as an adsorbent for sequestering iron from wastewater, but only 54.0% of iron concentration was eliminated after 120 min. To boost the removal efficiency, modification of the Al‐BDC MOF was carried out. MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite was prepared and applied as a nanoadsorbent for iron remediation from water. The adsorption capability of Al‐BDC MOF was greatly enhanced by facile modification. The adsorption efficiency reached 97.0% using 35.0 mg of the nanocomposite after 120 min compared to 54.0% iron removal using the un‐modified MOF. The effect of pH of the medium was then studied using MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite. The best elimination efficacy of iron was accomplished at pH ~ 2.2. The adsorption of iron on the surface of MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite attains 97.0% (120 min) using a 35.0 mg dose of adsorbent and reaches 98.7% utilizing a 50.0 mg dose of adsorbent. In contrast, at pH = 9.2, the removal efficiency drops to 90.0% (after 120 min, 35.0 mg adsorbent). The adsorption capability was examined also using a variety of iron concentrations, i.e., 2.5, 5.0, and 7.5 mg/L where the adsorption efficiency dropped notably upon increasing the concentration. It dropped from 96.3% to 87.0% using 35.0 mg of MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite at 90 min. The newly developed adsorbent showed a pronounced efficiency for Fe3+ removal against real samples collected from different water sources. Ultimately, this research introduces a novel MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite, synthesized through a simple and economical coprecipitation method, to address water contamination by iron. The innovation lies in the significant enhancement of iron elimination efficiency, from 54.0% with unmodified Al‐BDC MOF to 97.0% with the MnO2@Al‐BDC nanocomposite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Countries with abundant natural resources often possess greater wealth, yet the impact of these resources on economic growth remains unclear. This paper examines how natural‐resource abundance and its volatility impact economic growth. It questions whether natural resources themselves are a curse or if the negative growth effects are due to the volatility of natural‐resource revenues. The study also investigates how volatility of natural resources affects key economic growth channels, such as investment, human capital, and institutional quality. Using the standard panel model and panel smooth transition regression (PSTR), the paper analyzes data from 125 countries (1988–2020). Results show that natural‐resource abundance boosts economic growth, contradicting the resource‐curse theory. However, the growth impact is non‐linear and varies with natural‐resource volatility. Countries with high volatility face up to a 22 percentage point annual GDP growth loss compared with those with low volatility, suggesting that volatility and poor government responses drive the resource‐curse paradox, not the abundance of resources per se. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper undertakes an exploration of how the diversification of tourism markets and activities exerts its influence on economic growth, particularly in New Zealand. By employing a dynamic autoregressive distributed lag method, this study uncovers the interplay between tourism diversification and economic growth dynamics in New Zealand. Empirical results show that it is only the diversification of European markets that generated positive economic growth. However, the diversification of tourism activities emerges as a potent driver of favorable economic expansion. The evidence suggests that a strategic emphasis on augmenting tourism diversification from European markets holds the potential to magnify the positive economic impact of the tourism sector. Additionally, the proposition of enhancing diversification in tourism activities emerges as a key avenue for bolstering New Zealand's economic growth prospects. This study bridges a gap in the existing literature and furnishes policymakers with insights on how to harness the potential of tourism diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While conflict pervades virtually every aspect of society, there have been relatively few crossovers between Regional Science and Peace Science. This paper pays tribute to Walter Isard, pioneer of peace science research, and Kieran Donaghy, who has contributed to research on arms race dynamics and macroeconomic stability. We review studies that examine the impact of (i) trade on conflict, (ii) the economy on militarized disputes, and (iii) conflict on economic development. The analysis develops a structural equation model (SEM) to test the hypotheses simultaneously using the Correlates of War project data. Consistent with the liberal proposition, we found that the pacifying effect of trade is robust across alternative SEM specifications. Controlling for standard explanatory variables, the SEM estimates reveal that the indirect impact of economic development on conflict mediated by trade is statistically significant at the 0.1-percent level. Trade is, therefore, a critical intervening variable that transforms conflict-inducing economic expansion into a pacifying influence on militarized disputes. The spatial version of the SEM confirms that democracies do not attack each other. While trade does not appear to have a local spillover effect on conflict, proximity to neighboring democracies does lead to fewer conflicts. The final hypothesis argues that conflict affects national economic performance, which Donaghy refuted in his 1995 Conflict Management and Peace Science paper. Consistent with Donaghy's finding, the estimates reject the claim that conflict disrupts economic stability. The conclusion section discusses the implications for Kieran Donaghy's larger body of work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decoupling economic growth and carbon emissions is essential for sustainable growth. However, the impact of ICT agglomeration, especially its long-term impact on decoupling, has received little attention. Drawing on the Tapio decoupling model and dynamic decoupling path theory, this study examines the short-term and long-term effects of ICT agglomeration on decoupling by using a panel data set for 257 cities in China from 2003 to 2017. The results show that most cities are in a state of weak decoupling (253/257) and on an intensive dynamic decoupling path (192/257). Our empirical analyses confirm that ICT agglomeration negatively impacts the short-term decoupling trend but positively impacts the long-term decoupling path. The mediating mechanism analysis indicates that ICT agglomeration affects decoupling by driving ICT infrastructure investment, promoting green technology innovation, and stimulating consumption of ICT equipment. Green technology innovation significantly drives decoupling in both the short-term and long-term impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the interplay between governance priorities concerning urban shrinkage and the circular economy (CE) agenda in the cases of Parkstad Limburg (NL) and Satakunta (FI), aiming to assess the potential of European circular imaginaries for creating novel development pathways in shrinking cities and regions. The findings reveal that the CE agenda emerges within specific sectors due to various influences, including European institutional frameworks, national policies and local initiatives. Notably, the advocacy of commercial actors plays an instrumental role in advancing the CE concept into policy. However, both regions also demonstrate differences arising from distinct regional characteristics. Satakunta harnesses its manufacturing legacy to pursue economic and demographic growth through an industrial CE. Meanwhile, Parkstad Limburg prioritises circular construction to facilitate spatial restructuring and secure public funding. Therefore, in shrinking contexts, CE operates as a unifying agenda for existing interests, upholding prevailing political priorities rather than opening novel governance avenues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article, we critically confront the idea of waste-to-resource at the heart of the circular economy. We discuss some of the blind spots and shortcomings of three circular economy principles: designing out waste, emulating natural systems and decoupling economic growth from resource use. We suggest that their limitations are intimately connected to a scalar reasoning ruled by strict, disjunctive categories. Instead, we advance a flat, relational, trans-scalar approach and propose that the potential of a sustained circular economy promise requires a novel scalar imagination attentive to its multiple co-constituted spatialities, social relations and fluid materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In recent times, the literature has seen considerable growth in research at the intersection of CO2 emission, health expenditure, and economic growth. But looking at the literature, it appears that the relationship between health expenditures, CO2 emissions, and economic growth is unclear. To resolve this uncertainty, this study was conducted with different data, countries, and methods. To this end, the present study analyzed the nexus between CO2 emissions, health expenditure, and economic growth in Türkiye from 1975 to 2020 using the Autoregressive Distributed Lagged (ARDL) model developed by Pesaran et al. (J Appl Econ 16(3):289–326, 2001). The study reveals a connection between CO2 emissions, health spending, and economic development in Türkiye over the long term. It also highlights a short-term correlation among these factors. The study indicates that a 1% increase in economic growth results in a 0.553 and 0.297 rise in CO2 emissions in the short and long term, respectively. That is, it suggests that if economic growth in Türkiye doesn't involve renewable energy, it could negatively affect CO2 emissions both in the short and long term. To address this, substantial efforts are needed to transition to low-carbon technologies like renewable energy and energy efficiency, aiming to reduce emissions and support long-term economic growth. The study further demonstrates that a 1% growth in health expenditure leads to a 0.124% decrease in CO2 emissions over the long term. This implies that Türkiye's health sector could benefit from utilizing more renewable energy or using fossil fuels more efficiently. Additionally, the study warns that long-term population growth could negatively affect CO2 emissions in Türkiye. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Concerns about a sustainable environment are increasing and have attained significant attention among policy experts worldwide. Therefore, the current research investigated to what extent financial innovations, green energy, and economic growth impacted Indian transport-based carbon (TCO2) emissions from 1990 to 2018. This research applied quantile autoregressive distributed lag (QARDL) model and the Wald test for parameter consistency. The QARDL approach proves valuable as it illustrates the causal patterns across different quantiles of financial innovations, green energy, economic growth, and environmental degradation. It offers a more comprehensive understanding of the overall relationships among these variables, which conventional methods such as ARDL and OLS often overlook. The outcomes reveal that financial innovation and green energy negatively affect TCO2 emissions, suggesting that transportation sector emissions will likely decline because of a rise in green energy and financial innovation. In contrast, GDP positively affects TCO2 emissions which deteriorate the environment. Furthermore, the findings of GDP2 found significant and negative effects on TCO2 for all quantiles, affirming the inverse U-shaped curve for the Indian economy. Overall, the study suggests that Indian governments should promote the development of green financial innovation and focus their priorities on sustainable energy to attain carbon neutrality and sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion of inbound tourism among global islands, amidst relatively inadequate supporting tradable goods, potentially triggers high merchandise imports, resulting in an indeterminate impact on economic growth. Employing fixed and random effects estimation techniques on five-year-non-overlapping-averaged data, covering 1980 through 2019, this study, firstly, investigates the potential bi-causal relationship between inbound tourism and merchandise imports, in the case of 45 sovereign islands. The economic growth implication of a concurrent pursuit of tourism expansion and merchandise imports is also examined. The study further investigates how over-reliance on imported merchandise to feed international tourists, and over-specialisation in the tourism sector, affect the tourism-led-growth hypothesis in the case of these islands. Results from the study show that an increase in inbound tourism significantly leads to an increase in merchandise imports, and vice versa. Also, importing merchandises to sustain inbound tourism is significantly observed not to be detrimental to economic growth. However, results further reveal that over-reliance on imported merchandises to sustain inbound tourism, as well as over-specialisation in tourism with the help of imported merchandises, both exert significant detrimental net effects on economic growth. The findings hold policy guidelines for the pursuit of tourism-led and merchandise-import-led growth strategies among global islands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The industrial development and economic growth have provided a conducive environment for manufacturing process improvements. However, this progress also poses several challenges to remain competitive and improve efficiency as well as productivity. Failure mode and effect analysis is a systematic approach that is used extensively in the field of risk management to enhance quality and efficiency in different sectors, including the manufacturing and healthcare sectors. In this paper, a novel approach to enhance the failure mode and effects analysis was proposed. The approach can address the inherent uncertainty involved in assigning numerical values to represent the severity, occurrence and detection of each failure. A case study from a small-scale factor was assessed to ensure the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the peak‐end rule to economic voting, finding that voters focus on peak and end economic growth when evaluating incumbents. Cross‐national data from 595 elections in 70 countries (1960–2020) shows that the average of the highest GDP growth rate during the term and the growth rate in the election year positively impacts incumbent vote share, with peak growth having a stronger effect. Instrumental variable analysis addresses endogeneity. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that less‐educated voters rely more on the peak‐end rule. The findings contribute to understanding voters' behavioral patterns and improving democratic accountability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given that e-commerce is an essential way to improve the efficiency of resource allocation and boost economic growth in the era of digital technology, China has launched the national e-commerce demonstration city (NEDC) pilot project to enhance the application and extension of e-commerce. This study aims to explore the effect of the NEDC pilot policy on economic growth. Based on data sources from 285 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2021, this study assesses the effect of the NEDC pilot policy on economic growth by applying the staggered difference-in-differences (DID) method with the two-way fixed effects (TWFE) model. In addition, this study investigates the issues of heterogeneity, mediating effects, and cost–benefit of the NEDC pilot policy. The major results of this study are as follows: (1) Compared to non-demonstration cities, the implementation of the NEDC pilot policy resulted in a 4.1% increase in GDP in demonstration cities. Moreover, this boosting effect is particularly significant in prefecture-level cities associated with a high level of digital technology application; however, this positive effect disappears in prefecture-level cities with a high degree of local government intervention. (2) Decreasing transaction costs, increasing business opportunities, and reducing labor misallocation are the main mediating channels for the impact of the NEDC pilot policy on economic growth, implying that the NEDC pilot policy has played an important role in reducing information asymmetry, transaction links, and resource misallocation. (3) The benefits of the NEDC pilot policy exceed its costs as revealed by the fact that the pilot policy has dramatically increased the ratio of GDP to network costs, electricity consumption costs, and labor costs. This study recommends that when strengthening the application of e-commerce, it is essential to reduce excessive government intervention and enhance e-commerce support measures to ensure the role of e-commerce in facilitating economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cadasters are public records of land ownership that facilitate clear assignment of property rights and land demarcation, thereby reducing transaction costs for economic agents and strengthening the state's capacity to tax. Macro-level research on the evolution of formal land registration has largely been lacking. Using a novel dataset on the emergence and development of state-administered cadasters in 159 countries over the past millennium, we analyze empirically the association between the development of cadastral institutions and long-run economic growth. Our findings suggest a substantive positive effect of the introduction of cadasters on modern per capita income levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does lending-market competitiveness shape new firms' financing? Using a unique U.S. representative panel of new firms, we document that in more concentrated local lending markets: (a) new firms are less likely to access credit; (b) new firms have lower leverage; and (c) the best-performing firms are more severely affected by reduced debt financing. We develop a contingent-claims model with monopolistically competitive banks that rationalizes these facts and shows how credit-market conditions determine loan fees and concentration. Our findings highlight banks' market power as a channel through which the financial sector influences firms' development and, hence, economic growth. (JEL D82, G21, G32, G34, L26) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists often debate whether a country should pursue a discriminatory regional trade or the broader multilateral trade expansion. This paper contributes to the discourse by presenting empirical evidence on the impacts of regional and multilateral trade openness on economic growth of expansion in Malawi. Using the ARDL‐EC model and data spanning the period 1995–2020, the estimates show that the impact of multilateral trade openness on the long‐run growth rate is positive and statistically significant. At the disaggregated level, the results show that both intra‐ and extra‐African merchandise trade openness have positive and significant impact on the long‐run growth rate. The evidence also suggests that the impact of a change in the level of intra‐African merchandise trade openness on long‐run growth is larger than that of a similar change in the level of extra‐African merchandise trade openness. Thus, our results suggest that policymakers can pursue both regional and multilateral trade expansions simultaneously to accelerate Malawi's economic growth. To augment the benefits of trade, however, we recommend that policymakers focus on deepening intra‐African trade integration and diversifying the country's export base beyond the primary commodities; and to increase the processing of export products to enhance the dynamic benefits to spur faster growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper empirically examines the heterogeneous impacts of sudden stops in international capital flows on economic growth. We identified 24 sudden stop episodes since 1990 and employed a counterfactual method with cross‐economy panel data to evaluate the impact of each episode on economic growth. The results indicate that 14 sudden stop episodes triggered significant economic decline, with varying magnitudes; 9 episodes were accompanied by insignificant economic downturn, and 1 episode was followed by economic growth. We further utilize the treatment effect derived from the counterfactual analysis to investigate the causes of these heterogeneous impacts of sudden stops on economic growth. Results obtained from the panel data model suggest that external debt, financial development, and real investment return are the main driving forces contributing to the observed heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]