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Based on a unified framework, this study explores the influence of regional intellectual property protection (IPP) on domestic value added in exports. A theoretical model is constructed to illustrate that IPP affects the types and prices of intermediate goods through effects of market power, product category, and crowding-out, influences the choice of domestic and imported raw materials, and finally affects the domestic added value in exports of enterprises. Empirical evidence on the influence of IPP on the domestic added value in exports is provided utilizing China Customs Statistics, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, and Chinese prefectural-level data from 2000 to 2007. The results show that IPP significantly promotes the domestic value added of exports in China, but the effect is heterogeneous in terms of region and mode of enterprise trade; in the eastern region and processing trade enterprises the IPP effect is more pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the adoption of the concept of sustainable development, mega sports events (MSEs) are gradually aiming to be greener and to lower their carbon footprints. As such, does the hosting of MSEs provide an opportunity for urban green transformation? Taking MSEs in China as a quasi-natural experiment and using prefecture-level panel data from 2000 to 2020, we empirically explored the effects and mechanisms of MSE hosting on the green economic development in urban areas by applying a time-varying difference-in-differences (DID) approach. The findings revealed that the hosting of MSEs can significantly increase the green total factor productivity (GTFP) of the host city, indicating that MSEs promote the green transformation of urban areas. The results of the mechanism analysis showed that hosting MSEs promotes urban green transformation through three channels: encouraging residents to choose public transport, promoting the development of the digital economy, and upgrading of the industrial structure. In addition, the effect of hosting MSEs on green transformation is stronger in cities where the public is more concerned about the environment. We argue that host city governments should implement the concept of green sports when organizing MSEs, increase public concern about the environment, focus on the development of urban public services, and vigorously develop tertiary industries to drive urban green transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SO2 emissions have brought serious hidden danger to human health and environmental quality, thus hindering sustainable economic development. The development of high-speed rail indirectly has an important impact on SO2 emissions through its economic effects. Controlling SO2 emissions from the source has increasingly become the focus of many scholars, and it is very important to assess the environmental effects of high-speed rail on SO2 emissions reduction. We use the panel data of 285 cities in China from 2007 to 2017, and adopt the spatial Difference-in-Differences model to study the impact of the opening of high-speed rail on SO2 emissions. We also introduce an improved spatial DID model that distinguishes neighboring treatment groups and neighboring control groups to test the spatial spillover effect of high-speed rail on neighboring heterogeneous samples. We find that the opening of high-speed rail significantly reduces the city's SO2 emissions through the internal accumulation effect of technological innovation and industrial structure optimization and the urban external interaction mechanism of the cross-regional flow of production factors. Moreover, the spatial spillover effect of the opening of high-speed rail on neighboring cities is significantly positive, especially the spatial spillover effect of HSR on SO2 emissions from neighboring cities without HSR. In addition, heterogeneity analysis shows that the effect varies with the different cities' tiers and income levels. These findings are conducive to accurately assessing the environmental effects of high-speed rail, and provide important policy references for achieving sustainable development and reducing SO2 emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-speed rail (HSR) is often claimed to bring different regions and cities closer together by shortening travel times, which can reduce the costs and increase enterprises productivity to promote a sustainable economy. However, another view argues that HSR transfers economic activities from peripheral cities to core cities, resulting in unbalanced regional economic development and damaging the sustainability of the economy. Based on microdata from China, this paper empirically investigates the impact of HSR on the enterprises productivity in both core cities and peripheral cities and explores the impact mechanism from the perspective of allocation effect and distribution effect caused by HSR. The results show that the connection of HSR positively affects the enterprises productivity in core cities, while it negatively affects the enterprises productivity in peripheral cities, with effect values of 1.38% and -8.45%, respectively. The conclusion still holds after endogenous treatment and multiple robustness tests are conducted. Additionally, the allocation effect analysis shows that the market access caused by HSR has an optimization effect on the resource allocation efficiency of both core cities and peripheral cities. The distribution effect analysis reveals that the distribution of enterprise productivity in peripheral cities has market heterogeneity, regional heterogeneity, and location heterogeneity. The important policy significance of this paper is that, in order to promote the sustainable development of enterprises and the economy, it should reduce policy restrictions and promote the effective flow of capital and talents, carry out the dislocation development of industry for peripheral cities, and 'build a nest to attract the phoenix.', 1. Introduction The impact of high-speed rail (HSR) on economy and society is attracting more and more scholars' attention in the recent years [1-3]. In China, improving enterprise productivity and [...]

In a time varying difference-in-differences setting, we empirically test the impact of high-speed rail (HSR) connections on urban clusters in China. We construct an urban cluster centrality index to reflect changes in the economic positions of counties in clusters. The results show the following: (1) The HSR connection has a positive effect on urban cluster centrality, especially for counties with higher centrality. (2) The heterogeneity effect indicates that western counties centrality has greatly increased their urban cluster centrality compared to eastern areas. (3) Mechanism estimation indicates that the different result to western and eastern counties is due to the high skill labour transfer from eastern to western counties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]