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We consider a decentralised assembly supply chain that consists of an assembler and multiple suppliers. The cooperation between the assembler and each supplier is organised under a pull contract, which indicates that the suppliers bear the overstock risk. One of the suppliers may suffer disruption and endogenously builds the reliability, and the assembler could provide the subsidy for this unreliable supplier to improve the reliability. We reveal that in addition to the assembler, a reliable supplier with a sufficiently high wholesale price also has incentives to jointly offer subsidy for the ex ante reliability improvement. The reliable supplier's participation in reliability improvement could benefit all the supply chain members. Furthermore, we examine a subsequent reliable supplier's incentives to offer subsidy based on the previous one's. It suggests that it is not necessary for a subsequent reliable supplier with a lower wholesale price than the previous one's to provide the subsidy. Higher reliability for the whole supply chain could be achieved if the previous reliable supplier with a higher wholesale price provides the subsidy. We finally examine the impact of multiple unreliable suppliers and show that a larger number of unreliable suppliers would discourage a reliable supplier's subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The agricultural and rural development policy seeks to facilitate the transition towards environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral agricultural practices, with a focus on human capital, knowledge, and innovation. Gender equality can play a significant role in promoting environmentally sustainable practices in the agricultural sector, particularly through the adoption and implementation of agri-environment-climate schemes (AECS) in the context of farm, agricultural, and rural development. We examine the presence of gender bias in the adoption intensity of AECS by utilising farm-level data from Slovenia. We find that women on Slovenian farms engage in the adoption of AECS and receive subsidies, despite the presence of a gender gap in various agricultural factor endowment variables that typically favour men. The results of this study provide evidence in favour of promoting greater involvement and empowerment of women in the fields of green technology applications and green entrepreneurship, particularly with AECS practices.

Based on data from the Global Observatory of Public Support for Agriculture and Food, this article aims to analyze and understand the current functioning of public support, while assessing the extent to which it is effectively oriented towards the promotion of sustainable agricultural systems. Through a political economy analysis of public support, we will show the differences in support and the lack of tools and financed mechanisms to accelerate agricultural transitions at the global level.

This paper examines the Indonesian government's policy response under the PEN (National Economic Recovery) programme aimed at assisting MSMEs during the COVID-19 crisis. The findings show that the scheme significantly benefited the enterprises. Credit restructuring and interest subsidy programmes offered critical assistance to the beneficiaries and improved their access to credit options. Moreover, the Productive Government Assistance for Micro Businesses (BPUM) initiative enabled the beneficiary enterprises to address emergency working capital needs required during the pandemic. However, this study also identifies several hurdles that reduced the effectiveness of the PEN programme. These challenges could have been overcome by striking a balance between banked and unbanked MSMEs, maintaining reliable databases for targeted recipients, and strengthening coordination between the various agencies involved. Keywords: Indonesia, MSMEs, COVID-19, PEN programme, 1. Introduction The damaging impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Indonesian economy was first observed in 2020. After growing positively in the first quarter of 2020 by 3 per [...]

Background Contextualizing in China's recent health reform, we empirically explore the heterogeneous effects of two distinct government roles, accommodating private hospitals vs investing in public hospitals, on health system efficiency. Methods We use panel data covering 31 provinces during 2010–2019 to assess health system efficiency. We incorporate health service volumes and population health outcomes to ascertain health system outputs, employing the non-radial directional distance function to estimate efficiency. We employ Bayesian Tobit quantile regression to explore the heterogeneous effects of the share of private hospitals and government subsidy to public providers on efficiency. Results China's health system inefficiency scores range from 0 to 0.45. The association between the share of private hospitals and inefficiency score are only significant in higher-inefficiency quantiles (coefficients −0.0258, −0.0315 and −0.0327 for quantiles 0.7, 0.8 and 0.9), meaning a heterogeneously positive impact for low-efficiency provinces. The association between government subsidy and inefficiency score are positive for all quantiles (from 0.0339 to 0.0567), meaning persistent negative impacts on efficiency. Conclusions The heterogeneous impacts of the share of private hospitals suggest that the government should accommodate more private hospitals in provinces with low efficiency. The persistent negative impacts of government subsidy suggest that the government investment seems not be subjected to economic objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrient subsidy of methane‐oxidising bacteria (MOB), an alternative basal resource, to plankton communities through pelagic‐benthic coupling is expected to alter carbon‐to‐nitrogen (C/N) ratios and biomass of zooplankton, and affect biological processes in aquatic food webs. Previous studies indicate that most MOB nutrient subsidies to zooplankton are focused largely on C subsidies; nevertheless, considering that N is important to zooplankton and phytoplankton growth, a better understanding of MOB N subsidies to plankton communities is needed.We examined changes in nutrients, phytoplankton mass‐specific productivity, MOB reliance, C/N ratios and biomass of zooplankton between summer stratification and winter mixing periods based on in situ investigation in a subtropical deep oligotrophic freshwater ecosystem during 2010–2014.The results revealed that with increasing reliance on MOB during the winter mixing period, zooplankton C/N ratios decreased and had a significantly nonlinearly inverse relationship with zooplankton biomass. The negative relationship between zooplankton biomass and phytoplankton mass‐specific productivity was further observed in synchronous time.The profundal MOB enhanced pelagic‐profundal coupling and served as an alternative N support for pelagic plankton food webs during the winter and/or less productive seasons, adding to greater understanding of the role of methanotrophs in aquatic food webs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We establish a bus market evolution model to explore the implications of subsidy policies in Hong Kong (HK) for the transition to a zero-emission bus (ZEB) fleet using an unsubsidized case as the benchmark scenario. Using the system dynamics (SD) approach, we capture the intricate feedback mechanisms among market share dynamics, cost considerations, consumer preferences, and competitive interactions within the bus market. These interactions are encapsulated within three pivotal feedback loops: scale economy, public acceptance, and bus market competition. We systematically integrate the HK-specific features of hydrogen buses (H-buses), battery electric buses (E-buses), and diesel buses (D-buses) from technical and economic perspectives and compare them to the benchmark scenario. The results show that only 66% of the bus fleet would be ZEBs by 2050, and this underscores the necessity for governmental financial incentives to expedite the transition to a fully zero-emission fleet. Furthermore, we evaluate various ZEB subsidy policy alternatives in terms of timing, intensity, and recipients. The analysis suggests that policies offering long-term and low-intensity subsidies are most beneficial, taking into account the cumulative effects and inherent delays associated with policy implementation. Importantly, the study highlights the critical balance that policymakers must achieve between short- and long-term objectives, especially given the counter-intuitive outcomes observed in the early stages of policies favoring H-buses exclusively. This study provides valuable policy insights for policymakers and upstream energy companies in HK, with potential applicability in wider real-world contexts. • Zero-emission bus alternatives are analyzed from technical and economic aspects. • Various feedback loops are considered for dynamic market analysis. • A counter-intuitive effect is observed in the hydrogen bus subsidy scenario. • A long-term subsidy with low intensity is recommended. • Tradeoff between short- and long-term policy effects is identified and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar photovoltaic systems can reduce carbon emissions by harnessing green energy from the sunlight, however, tremendous end-of-life solar panels may pose a threat to the local environment in the coming decades. What's worse, fewer regulations have been mandated to deal with the disposal of solar waste. To address this issue, this paper investigates a game-based, government-subsidized solar recycling model, and extends the model to a dynamic system. By analyzing the equilibrium outcomes, optimal decisions are revealed for all stakeholders. More importantly, we find regulatory subsidies can benefit all members of the solar recycling chain. Furthermore, when confronted with low-quality solar panels with a high degradation rate, we suggest that the government announces a low R&D subsidy rate. Even so, the level of the manufacturer's R&D efforts is still high, which leads to more R&D subsidies provided by the government. Based on an analysis of the dynamic system, it's better to be extremely careful when the government enacts the subsidy policy. Otherwise, the profits of all the chain members may be hurt due to the bifurcation and chaos phenomena. • A government-subsidized solar recycling model has been studied. • The impacts of subsidy and risk aversion on optimal strategies are revealed. • When facing low-quality panels with a high degradation rate, the governor should provide a low R&D subsidy rate. • A dynamic system is investigated to understand decision making process in long-term operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study addresses the group-based nature of financial vulnerability in the low-income environment. Adopting a highly flexible stochastic dissemination model, we assess the impact of insurance on the resilience of a low-income group to wealth shocks. For this purpose, the transient wealth of a group of interacting uninsured and insured agents is considered. The model is extended to capture four types of transaction events: external arrivals, internal redistributions, wealth losses and premium payments. Risk-sharing mechanisms, mitigating the impact of financial losses that are otherwise uninsured, are widespread in low-income communities. Our modelling of redistribution events captures the wealth transactions associated with these mechanisms, alongside the purchase of commodities and services from within the group. Through this set-up, we present a method for incorporating the high level of wealth interaction characteristic of the low-income setting in the assessment of the effectiveness of insurance. The model is underlined by an exogenously evolving Markov background process that represents the state of the economy. To analyse the distribution of wealth jointly with the state of the background process, a system of coupled differential equations for the joint transient distribution of agent wealth is derived, and is reduced to a linear system of differential equations through consideration of the moments of agent wealth. Sensitivity analysis is performed to establish the impact of the system's structure and stochastic dynamics on the wealth of the group. The probability of falling below the poverty line is then determined through application of a normal approximation and the impact of insurance in reducing this probability considered under varying levels of subsidisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanitarian supply chains (HSC) have vital significance in mitigating different disruptive supply chain risks caused due to natural or man-made activities such as tsunami, earthquakes, flooding, warfare, or the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Each kind of disaster poses a unique set of challenges to the operationalization of HSC. This study attempts to determine the critical barriers to the operationalization of HSC in India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, we determined and validated 10 critical barriers to HSC operationalization through a Delphi method. Further, we analyzed the barriers by computing the driving and dependence power of each barrier to determine the most critical ones. To do so, we coined a distinct form of interpretive structural modeling (ISM) by amalgamating it with the neutrosophic approach, i.e. Neutrosophic ISM. The findings indicate, "lack of Government subsidies and support, lack of skilled and experienced rescuers, and lack of technology usage" are the most critical barriers that influence the streamline operations of HSC during the COVID-19 outbreak, unlike other disruptions. This is the first-of-its-kind research work that has identified and analyzed the critical barriers to HSC operationalization during COVID-19 in the Indian context. The results and recommendations of the study can aid policymakers and HSC professionals in formulating suitable strategies for successful HSC operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urgent emission reduction and community adaptation efforts are necessary to avert catastrophic climate-change harms. To assess our nation's progress toward such eforts, this Article develops a comprehensive structural analysis of U.S. climate policy at the federal, state, and local levels. It observes that current climate policies reflect disparate ®deral, state, and local strategies around emissions regulation, emission reduction subsidies, adaptation, and liability approaches. The Article then analyzes the dynamics between federal, state, and local strategies in these policy areas. This examination leads to some surprising conclusions. Under current policy alignments, further emission regulation measures do not appear to be realistic policy options. Though such regulatory measures have long been considered the most ellicient climate interventions, this analysis suggests they have little near-term prospect for further deployment. Rather, current dynamics among the states and federal government indicate that previously second- and third-choice policies, like subsidies and liability measures, have greater potential for expansion. Thus, these less-favored policy approaches may represent the best hopes for pressing emission reduction efforts. Further, the analysis suggests that while most climate adaptation policy is implemented at the local level, federal adaptation policies require the more immediate attention. Because federal adaptation policies reflect a deferential funding strategy, where the-federal government attempts to match support with state and local policy prejkrences, altering federal programs to better recognize state and local choices will enhance adaptation efforts at all levels of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In mid-1972, the World Bank approved its first loan for a sites and services project, selecting Senegal for the location based on the country's prior experience with similar schemes. Through a close reading of documents in the Bank archive, this article explores the serious differences that emerged between the Bank and Senegal in shaping the project, focusing on three issues: determining whether slum clearance or upgrading should be used to manage existing unregulated urban settlements; eliminating government subsidies for moderate-income housing schemes in order to shift investment to sites and services; and setting appropriate standards for the new Bank-sponsored neighbourhood. Moreover, the partners conceived the project quite differently: while the Bank was fixed on the successful implementation of its first sites and services scheme, for Senegal, this project was only one element of a larger vision for Dakar, which reflected the ambitions of the country's first postcolonial president, Léopold Senghor, and was given shape in the 1967 master plan developed by French urban planner Michel Écochard. The article examines the completed project through the contrasting evaluations produced by the project partners, and considers the complex power dynamics of the relationship between the Bank and Senegal as aid lender and recipient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spawning migrations of fishes are common case studies for examining the magnitude of resource subsidies; however, no studies have evaluated this phenomenon in iteroparous migrations of the Catostomid (i.e. suckers) genus Moxostoma (i.e. redhorses). Fish resource subsidies are usually represented as nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P), and migratory redhorses can deliver these nutrients via excretion and eggs. We evaluated whether redhorses deliver N and P subsidies to Brasstown Creek—a fourth‐order stream in the Southeastern US—during their spawning migrations. We measured individual‐level nutrient contributions from excretion and eggs and extrapolated those values to estimate nutrient contributions based on daily abundances of migratory redhorses. We compared daily nutrient inputs to daily nutrient exports to determine the potential for resource subsidies. We estimated 71.6 kg of N and 4.4 kg of P were delivered to Brasstown Creek over a 98‐day migration period. N input exceeded N export on 15 of the 98 days, but phosphorus input never exceeded P export. Eggs accounted for the majority of N and P input at 51% and 100% respectively. Redhorse N inputs peaked in the spring during a period of low N exports, suggesting that redhorse subsidies were delivered during times of elevated nutrient demand and relatively low nutrient availability. Suckers receive little management attention, and several species of redhorses are imperilled. Given our conclusion that redhorses provide a temporally critical N subsidy that is likely available to multiple consumers in freshwater food webs, this study provides compelling motivation for increased conservation of these species and their migrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobility as a service (MaaS) is an emerging mobility service that has received high expectations from the transportation sector in recent years. MaaS integrates multiple transportation services into a single platform, enhancing the accessibility of various transportation resources. However, the complex integration involved in MaaS leads to uncertainty in stakeholder interaction and system implementation. For the successful deployment and development of MaaS, this study aims to identify stakeholder enablers and barriers as well as to solve the uncertainty in MaaS implementation. We construct a tripartite evolutionary game model among government, transportation service providers (TSPs) and travelers. By synthesizing the evolutionary stability of each participant through simulation, we explored the impact of factors on stakeholder strategy choices and further analyzed the stability of equilibrium points in the system. The results show that: 1) Government subsidies and penalties, TSPs' costs and revenues, travelers' utility and expenses all impact the strategy choices of stakeholders. 2) The costs of government policy-making and TSPs will influence the evolution of MaaS system into two different development modes: free-market model and policy-supported model. 3) Travelers' utilities play a crucial role in promoting the stability of travelers' adoption of MaaS. This study provides new insights into identifying stakeholder demands. The findings contribute to formulating specific policy recommendations and incentive measurements to help in the strengthen and forward movement of MaaS development in the future. • Employed tripartite evolutionary game theory to explore MaaS stakeholder interactions. • Identified the key factors influencing stakeholders' decisions. • Integrated analysis of model outcomes with business models for comprehensive evaluation. • Simulation analysis was conducted to verify the validity of the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural and rural development policy seeks to facilitate the transition towards environmentally sustainable and climate-neutral agricultural practices, with a focus on human capital, knowledge, and innovation. Gender equality can play a significant role in promoting environmentally sustainable practices in the agricultural sector, particularly through the adoption and implementation of agri-environment-climate schemes (AECS) in the context of farm, agricultural, and rural development. We examine the presence of gender bias in the adoption intensity of AECS by utilising farm-level data from Slovenia. We find that women on Slovenian farms engage in the adoption of AECS and receive subsidies, despite the presence of a gender gap in various agricultural factor endowment variables that typically favour men. The results of this study provide evidence in favour of promoting greater involvement and empowerment of women in the fields of green technology applications and green entrepreneurship, particularly with AECS practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The allometric trophic network (ATN) framework for modeling population dynamics has provided numerous insights into ecosystem functioning in recent years. Herein we extend ATN modeling of the intertidal ecosystem off central Chile to include empirical data on pelagic chlorophyll-a concentration. This intertidal community requires subsidy of primary productivity to support its rich ecosystem. Previous work models this subsidy using a constant rate of phytoplankton input to the system. However, data shows pelagic subsidies exhibit highly variable, pulse-like behavior. The primary contribution of our work is incorporating this variable input into ATN modeling to simulate how this ecosystem may respond to pulses of pelagic phytoplankton. Our model results show that: (1) closely related sea snails respond differently to phytoplankton variability, which is explained by the underlying network structure of the food web; (2) increasing the rate of pelagic-intertidal mixing increases fluctuations in species' biomasses that may increase the risk of local extirpation; (3) predators are the most sensitive species to phytoplankton biomass fluctuations, putting these species at greater risk of extirpation than others. Finally, our work provides a straightforward way to incorporate empirical, time-series data into the ATN framework that will expand this powerful methodology to new applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider an investor, whose capital is divided into an industrial investment x t and cash y t , and satisfy a nonlinear deterministic dynamical system. The investor fixes fractions of capital to be invested, withdrawn, and consumed, and also the production factor parameter. The government fixes a subsidy fraction for industrial investments and a tax fraction for the capital outflow. We study a Stackelberg game, corresponding to the asymptotically stable equilibrium (x ∗ , y ∗) of the mentioned dynamical system. In this game, the government (the leader) uses subsidies to make incentives for the investor (the follower) to maintain the desired level of x ∗ , and uses taxes to achieve this with the minimal cost. The investor's aim is to maximize the difference between the consumption and the price of the production factor at equilibrium. We present an explicit analytical solution of the specified Stackelberg game. Based on this solution, we introduce the notion of a fair industrial investment level, which is costless for the government, and show that it can produce realistic results using a case study of water production in Lahore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Corporate greenwashing in response to carbon neutrality strategies has received substantial academic attention. Distinct from previous studies, this paper establishes a differential game model incorporating both green and brown enterprise types. The model compares greenness and total profits under two government scenarios: subsidies for green enterprises and the regulation of brown enterprises. It further analyzes the mechanism behind brown enterprise greenwashing formation. The results show that subsidies alone encourage brown enterprises to engage in greenwashing. However, government regulation inhibits such behaviors, with the inhibition effect positively correlated to regulatory intensity. Consumers' green perception of enterprises also significantly drives brown enterprise greenwashing degrees. Higher green enterprise perception coefficients reduce greenwashing, while higher brown enterprise perception coefficients increase it. Differential game and simulation analyses reveal that greenwashing governance should consider both direct policy effects on brown enterprises and indirect subsidy effects on green enterprises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various pro-cycling policies emerged around the world with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. France experimented with a €50 bike repair subsidy. Our questionnaire survey (n = 7343) focuses on beneficiaries' sociological profiles. Despite its success in quantitative terms, the repair subsidy benefited more regular cyclists—who cycle daily—and people who are confident cycling in urban areas. Women were more likely to benefit than men, and people in low-income households more than those in high-income households. Because these populations are usually underrepresented among cyclists in France, the scheme may appear to have reduced inequities in cycling. However, the scheme could have reached out more to the low-income population who were largely unaware of it. This selectivity is partly explained by awareness of the subsidy, which is lower among the younger and the less educated part of the population. Our survey shows that the scheme is selective primarily because of its design. It would have been necessary to accompany it with measures specifically designed for vulnerable groups. • Bike repair subsidy has been successful in quantitative terms. • Bike repair subsidy mainly benefited regular, confident, and women cyclists. • Low-income cyclists benefited the most although they were poorly informed. • Access to information about subsidies is itself socially selective. • Although the scheme is based on equal treatment, it can hardly be considered fair. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, women are underrepresented in elected politics. The study's case countries of Australia (ranked 33), Canada (61) and the United States (66) rank poorly for women's political representation. Drawing on role strain and gender-mainstreaming theories and applying large-scale survey experiments, we examine public opinion on non-quota mechanisms to bolster women's political participation. The experimental design manipulates the politician's gender and level of government (federal/local) before asking about non-quota supports to help the politician. We find public support for policies aimed at lessening work–family role strain is higher for a woman politician; these include a pay raise, childcare subsidies and housework allowances. This support is amplified among women who are presented with a woman politician in our experiment, providing evidence of a gender-affinity effect. The study's findings contribute to scholarship on gender equality and point to gender-mainstreaming mechanisms to help mitigate the gender gap in politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of envy-freeness is a natural and intuitive fairness requirement in resource allocation. With indivisible goods, such fair allocations are not guaranteed to exist. Classical works have avoided this issue by introducing an additional divisible resource, i.e., money. In this paper, we aim to design a truthful allocation mechanism of indivisible goods to achieve fairness and efficiency criteria with a limited amount of subsidy. Following the work of Halpern and Shah, our central question is as follows: to what extent do we need to rely on the power of money to accomplish these objectives? We show that, when agents have matroidal valuations, there is a truthful allocation mechanism that achieves envy-freeness and utilitarian optimality by subsidizing each agent with at most 1, the maximum marginal contribution of each item for each agent. The design of the mechanism rests crucially on the underlying matroidal M-convexity of the Lorenz dominating allocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Besides the firm's individual characteristics, knowledge agglomeration in the firm's environment is a clear determinant of receiving public support for business R&D. • This role is heterogeneous depending on the dimension of knowledge agglomeration considered and the level of governance of public agencies. • National and European agencies seem to value technological relatedness in their allocation of subsidies, while regional agencies focus more on firms in sectors in which the region enjoys a competitive advantage. • The level of sectoral and regional concentration of knowledge affects not only the firms' probability of participating in subsidy programs but also the amount of the subsidy awarded to supported firms. In this paper, we study the role played by different dimensions of knowledge agglomeration as determinants of public subsidies to business R&D. For the analysis, we use firm-level information from the Spanish Panel of Technological Innovation (PITEC) and combine these data with information from other sources at the sectoral–regional level, obtaining an unbalanced panel of 28,082 observations of Spanish firms. Our results suggest that knowledge agglomeration affects both the probability of participation in subsidy programs and the subsidy amount awarded to supported firms. This effect is heterogeneous depending on the dimension of knowledge agglomeration considered (technological relatedness, regional specialization, intrasectoral or upstream knowledge pool, technological cooperation) and the level (regional, national, or European) of governance of public agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Governments have formulated policies to support companies developing new energy vehicle, and unexpected slow development brings further attention to the policy. Concerns have been raised about how to design a subsidy mode for policies. In this paper, we provide insights into the preference of subsidy mode, government's subsidy strategies and firms' strategies of researching and pricing among product subsidy, innovation subsidy, and product-innovation subsidy. We find that the government and companies prefer the product-innovation subsidy and detest innovation subsidy. Moreover, there is a trade-off in the government's subsidy strategy under the product-innovation subsidy, where the product subsidy payment is higher than that under the product subsidy, and the innovation subsidy payment is lower than that under the innovation subsidy. In terms of price strategies, the manufacturer's price is lowest under the product subsidy, and the supplier's price is lowest under the innovation subsidy. Furthermore, the investment strategies under the three subsidy cases are positively correlated with consumer recognition and firms' R &D capabilities, while the government subsidy strategy under the innovation subsidy show some differences. Government should make the product-innovation subsidy as the first choice, and turning to the innovation subsidy as companies' R &D capabilities and consumer recognition increasing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We consider trade policy for a private market good that is also valuable for the production of military force. In a two-country model with both contested and uncontested resources, we show necessary and sufficient conditions for the importing country to restrict trade with quota and subsidy combination in equilibrium. Equilibrium can involve subsidization by the exporting country with equilibrium total of the importing country increasing in this subsidy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Evolutionary game theory is used to study the dynamic behaviors in WEEE recycling. • Combine propaganda and treatment technology investments with governance mechanism. • The government should levy a high environmental damage tax on informal recyclers. • Government subsidies can promote formal recyclers to make propaganda investments. • Informal recyclers should actively invest in processing technology. With an increase in the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), the waste of resources and environmental hazards caused by WEEE cannot be ignored. Meanwhile, the lack of environmental awareness among consumers and the existence of informal recyclers pose a great challenge to the government in governing the WEEE recycling industry. This study constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model consisting of the government and formal and informal recyclers. Then, the payoff matrix, replicator dynamic equations and all the equilibrium points are obtained, and a stability analysis of the equilibrium points is performed to derive the evolutionary stability strategies (ESSs) and their formation conditions. Finally, the influence of important parameters on the WEEE recycling industry is examined through numerical analysis. The results suggest that the government cannot ignore the existence of informal recyclers but should take governance measures to intervene in informal recycling and guide such recyclers to upgrade their processing technology. Moreover, the willingness of informal recyclers to invest in processing technology increases with the increase in environmental damage taxes. Second, the government should provide formal recyclers with appropriate promotional subsidies. Third, the government should control its own cost of governance and reduce its financial burden. Fourth, with government subsidies, formal recyclers should decide whether to make promotional investments based on the investment cost and the sum of the benefits from the investment and government subsidy. Finally, under government tax pressure and the influence of formal recyclers' promotional investments, informal recyclers should actively invest in processing technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prior research studies sustainable supply chain (SC) management for the electric vehicle (EV) industry in which SC members have sufficient funds. However, many EV firms always face the problems of financial constraints, which lead to the importance and urgency for the research of sustainable SC finance. To address this new problem, we consider the members of the electric vehicle supply chain (EVSC) can be risk averse because of the financial risks from uncertain demands. The EV retailer has limited liability and can obtain loans through a bank or an EV manufacturer. We first address a base model in which the EV manufacturer invests in the green research and development (R&D) effort and investigate operational decisions and sustainable SC finance strategies for the EVSC and members. Using the real data from a top-four EV manufacturer in the world, we do a case study to verify the outcomes of the base model and find that the EVSC and members can derive higher profits with MF strategy for the most cases. Furthermore, we extend the base model to consider government subsidies and the EV retailer's service levels, and find that government subsidies and the EV retailer's service are beneficial to the EVSC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to safe sanitation is a basic requirement for human well-being and is critical for protecting public health and preventing environmental contamination at the community level. The increasing global risk of climate-related disasters exacerbates the likelihood of traditional sanitation solutions failing and exposing communities to harmful pathogens. This risk is ubiquitous in Cambodia's flood-prone Tonle Sap Lake region, which has some of the lowest rates of sanitation coverage in the country. This study sought to design and test a targeted mechanism in the region to deliver sanitation subsidies to households in a vulnerable position due to climate and socioeconomic characteristics. Subsidy eligibility was evaluated using the poverty probability index for Cambodia, with thresholds set according to households' individual and community-level climate vulnerability. In a randomized controlled trial, offering subsidies increased the likelihood of successful sales conversions for climate-resilient latrine products among targeted households by 32 percentage points, indicating effectiveness for increasing market-based sanitation uptake. The research did not find evidence of widespread or sustained market distortion due to the subsidy program. HIGHLIGHTS Being offered a subsidy increased the likelihood that a given household would purchase a latrine by 31% (over ineligible comparison households).; The sales closing rate among eligible households in treatment areas was 38% compared to 6% among ineligible treatment households.; When offered a subsidy, households who were climate vulnerable were most likely to purchase a latrine.; No evidence of significant market distortion due to the subsidy was identified.;

In this study an extended model is proposed based on government subsidies to support the development of new energy power plants. Accordingly, the profit of this production unit is increased with the reduction of CO2 emissions. In addition, the results show that the plan to sell carbon dioxide emissions threshold helps in financial subsidies saving. Also, the increase in factors such as energy production capacity, electricity market price, CO2 emission threshold price and fluctuations in investment costs can lessen the amount of dedicated subsidies by the government. Also, the increase in parameters such as investment costs and fluctuations in electricity prices, and the price of CO2 emission thresholds leads to the dedication of more encouragement subsides.

Biodiesel and hydrotreated renewable diesel (RD)—or collectively biomass-based diesel (BBD)—have become integral components of compliance with policies aiming to reduce U.S. transportation sector greenhouse gas emissions. Such policies include the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), and Oregon’s Clean Fuel Program (CFP). These policies, along with a federal Blender’s BBD Tax Credit (BTC), provide financial incentives for BBD. In this white paper, the authors study pass-through of implicit taxes and subsidies, introduced by federal and state policies, to a variety of diesel and soy biodiesel fuel prices in the context of the U.S. diesel sector, focusing on fossil diesel and soy biodiesel. They apply time series methods techniques to estimate how a variety of diesel fuel price spreads across the country and in California and Oregon responds to changes in the implicit taxes placed on petroleum diesel and the implicit subsidies awarded to biodiesel. The results presented in this paper point to some inefficiencies in the RFS, LCFS, and CFP. The primary contribution of this paper was providing the first set of estimates of pass-through of LCFS implicit taxes and subsidies, and doing so for the diesel sector, a critical player in LCFS compliance.View the NCST Project Webpage

Decision-makers want to be reliably advised on the implications of the decisions they make. Very sophisticated models, which decision-makers are often unfamiliar with, are typically used to provide such assessments for large and complex systems. However, even having access to these models, decision-makers can rarely handle them. A model is best known to its developers, who, therefore, need to be contracted to estimate the effects of the proposed policies. This takes time and money, yet leaves the credibility of the results questionable in countries with a limited culture of cooperation between decision-makers and a modeling community. One possible, yet partial, solution is to use an ensemble of models. Another option is to use a set of compact meta-models to address specific policies and measures; the parameters of such compact models can be assessed using other, large and complex, models. Decision-makers can run these simple compact models on their own to make policy dialogue more operational and to have more confidence in the results. This paper presents one such model, which consists of 95 compact sub-models designed to outline comprehensive energy efficiency programs, along with the results of its pilot application for an illustrative set of policies. This application has shown, that such models may serve as an effective tool for a prompt policy dialogue with all stakeholders in compiling the policy package to untap the most of the available energy efficiency potential to meet sector-specific or economy-wide goals in terms of energy savings or energy intensity reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission reduction (CER) in the construction industry can aid in achieving the international community's carbon neutrality target. However, the low motivation of construction enterprises to reduce carbon emissions and the unsatisfactory effect of CER are still unresolved issues. This study aims to address these issues by constructing a building supply chain (BSC) consisting of a developer and a contractor using government subsidies and cost-sharing contracts. The optimal government subsidy and feedback equilibrium strategies of the BSC are examined using a combination of differential game theory and numerical simulations. The findings demonstrate that (1) cost-sharing contracts may enhance developer and contractor profits and building CER, goodwill, and demand without relying on government subsidies; (2) when subsidized by the government, each equilibrium strategy meets or exceeds the performance of the centralized model, with the cost-sharing contract having a negligible effect on the enhancement of each equilibrium strategy; and (3) both the game structure and the positioning of construction enterprises in the BSC are connected to the number of government subsidies. The city of Shenzhen, one of China's first low-carbon pilot cities, provides a realistic environment for the simulation analysis, with the Block K residential building in Nanshan District serving as a case study. Furthermore, this work contributes to the body of knowledge by proposing a novel CER model for the BSC using differential game theory. The research provides new insights into the role of government subsidies in shaping profit distribution, game structure, and enterprise positioning. Findings demonstrate the value of cost-sharing contracts in improving CER, goodwill, demand, and profits when implemented collaboratively. This advances the theoretical understanding of incentives and strategies for promoting CER in construction. This research highlights the importance of collaborative efforts between the government and the building supply chain (BSC) to promote sustainable construction and carbon emission reduction (CER). The study found that government subsidies can be an effective tool to encourage developers and contractors to adopt CER practices. However, relying solely on subsidies is insufficient—collaboration through mechanisms such as cost-sharing contracts can further enhance sustainability outcomes when enterprises work together. To facilitate low-carbon construction, the government could provide subsidies for developers' promotional and marketing activities as well as funding for contractors' research and development of sustainable materials and technologies. Financial incentives such as tax breaks and preferential lending for potential homebuyers can also accelerate consumer demand. Ultimately, creating a supportive environment where enterprises proactively pursue CER creates a win–win situation where the BSC becomes more sustainable while firms improve their branding and profitability. The insights from this research highlight the need for a multipronged approach. Governments play a key role through policy and financial support. Realizing the full potential of sustainable construction also requires active participation from developers, contractors, and consumers. By outlining optimal strategies and incentives, this study provides valuable guidance to construction industry stakeholders seeking to implement CER collaboratively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a new pattern of urbanization, smart cities offer a set of initiatives to achieve a win-win situation for both environmental protection and economic development. This paper aims to explore the influence of smart city policy (SCP) on green technology innovation (GTI) by Chinese listed enterprises. Employing the difference-in-differences (DID) approach, the results show that SCP promotes enterprises' GTI. This finding remains valid after various robustness tests, which include the parallel trend test, PSM-DID, placebo test, the substitution of estimation model, replacement of dependent variable, and the exclusion of the impacts of other policies. Additional tests reveal that SCP improves GTI through government environmental subsidy, corporate environmental awareness, and research and development investments. Furthermore, the heterogeneity analysis suggests that our findings are more prominent in subsamples during the growth stage, in high-tech industries, and in eastern regions. Our research is vital to the urban ecological environment and high-quality economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current trends in the development of agricultural production necessitate the attraction of additional financial resources to finance the agricultural sector, which are specific to each national economy. The article examines the priority directions of development of the mechanism for financing agricultural production in Ukraine in the context of current trends in the implementation of the common agricultural policy in Europe. A comparative analysis of the mechanism of additional financing of agricultural production in the EU countries was carried out in the implementation of the common agricultural policy. Clustering of European countries was carried out while taking into account the existence of patterns in the agricultural market and it was confirmed that these patterns do not determine the features and volumes of additional financing of agricultural production. The existence of twelve possible types of markets of agricultural products in European countries is determined and the existence in practice of six of them is confirmed. It is determined that there are significant violations in the policy of convergence of financing of the agricultural sector declared by the OAP, which confirms the need to reform the Common Agricultural Policy of European countries in the direction of greater compliance with the national problems of the European agricultural sector. It has been determined that there is a specific list of development problems that is not repeated for any of the European countries for the agricultural sector of Ukraine, and its own type of agricultural market has been formed, which also has no correspondence. The article focuses on the need to form in Ukraine a specific mechanism of additional financing of agricultural production, taking into account the problems of development of the national agricultural sector and in the context of the Common Agrarian Policy of the Economic Community, its priorities and direction of reform.

Industrialized countries increasingly use targeted subsidies to lessen Arms' disadvantages caused by climate change, geopolitical realignment of trade relationships and local COVID-19 pandemic dislocations. The debate over the United States Inflationary Reduction Act and the European Union criticism of it because of its effect on Arms' investment location choices exemplify how subsidies affect investment flows. We investigate to what extent different subsidy schemes affect Arms' investment location choices and explore the effect on two dimensions: immediacy (direct versus indirect) and firm specificity (firm-specific versus non-firm-specific). Using a sample of United States MNEs and their investments in subsidiaries in the European Union and China, we find that direct subsidies have a greater positive effect on investment than indirect subsidies, and that non- firm-specific subsidies have a greater positive effect than firm-specific subsidies. Our study establishes a more nuanced understanding of subsidy effects, suggesting that policymakers should align their subsidy schemes for attracting foreign direct investment accordingly. Keywords: foreign direct investment, institutions, investment location choice, policy support, subsidies JEL classification codes: D04, D78, H29, L52, 1. Introduction The rapid succession of recent and ongoing international crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic (WHO, 2023), the Russia-Ukraine war (1) with its resulting shock to food and energy [...]

How much do students benefit from student loan subsidies? We investigate this question, exploiting a natural experiment: a demand shock due to the 2011 tightening of credit standards in the PLUS program. We first establish that the Bennett hypothesis is best explained by colleges charging large markups over their marginal costs, rather than by advantageous selection. Then we use our results to estimate that students plausibly capture less than 60 cents of each dollar of resources expended on loan subsidies. We discuss alternative approaches that would more directly benefit students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rivers form meta‐ecosystems, in which disturbance and connectivity control biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and their interactions across the river network, but also across connected instream and riparian ecosystems. This aquatic–terrestrial linkage is modified by drying, a disturbance that also naturally fragments river networks and thereby modifies organism dispersal and organic matter (OM) transfers across the river network. However, little evidence of the effects of drying on river network‐scale OM cycling exists. Here, we assessed the effects of fragmentation by drying at the river meta‐ecosystem scale by monitoring leaf resource stocks, invertebrate communities and decomposition rates, across three seasons and 20 sites, in the instream and riparian habitats of a river network naturally fragmented by drying. Although instream leaf resource quantity and quality increased, leaf‐shredder invertebrate richness and abundance decreased with flow intermittence. Decomposition was, however, mainly driven by network‐scale fragmentation and connectivity. Shredder richness and invertebrate‐driven decomposition both peaked at sites with intermediate amounts of intermittent reaches upstream, suggesting that upstream drying can promote the biodiversity and functioning of downstream ecosystems. Shredder richness, however, had a negative effect on decomposition in perennial sites, likely due to interspecific competition. Leaf quantity, invertebrate communities and invertebrate‐driven decomposition became more similar between instream and riparian habitats as drying frequency increased, likely due to homogenization of environmental conditions between both habitats as the river dried. Our study demonstrates the paramount effects of drying on the dynamics of resources, communities and ecosystem functioning in rivers and presents evidence of one of the first network‐scale examples of the co‐drivers of ecosystem functions across terrestrial–aquatic boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of green products, such as electric vehicle (EV) batteries, has brought about challenges in recycling and remanufacturing. To help tackle these challenges, in this research, we investigate how process innovation affects green product remanufacturing. Specifically, using game-theoretic models, we analyze process innovation strategies for green product remanufacturing in a closed-loop supply chain consisting of an upstream supplier and a downstream manufacturer. In these models, process innovation is implemented individually (i.e., non-cooperative mechanisms) by either the supplier or the manufacturer, or jointly (i.e., cooperative mechanism) by both firms. Our main findings are threefold. Firstly, process innovation can effectively improve remanufacturing performance while increasing the recovery rate of the manufacturer. Secondly, although the cooperative mechanism is always beneficial to the supplier, the supply chain and the environment, it may not be favourable by the manufacturer. Lastly, by extending the main models, we show that government subsidies can incentivise the manufacturer to adopt the cooperative mechanism, thereby achieving a win–win situation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With its subsidy retention fund, the city of Ghent targets homeowners, who live in a dwelling of bad quality and do not have the resources to renovate or move out. Being in this no-choice situation, they are locked-in homeowners. Through this innovative policy instrument, Ghent aims to improve the quality of its housing stock targeting households who may not take up other renovation-encouraging instruments. To reach the households who would otherwise not be able to renovate, important efforts in outreaching and offering technical and social guidance accompany the renovation subsidy. Guidance activities substantially increase the cost of the instrument, but in reaching the households living in bad-quality houses, it has the potential to create major benefits not only technically but also socially as housing quality is related to well-being. Generally, the identification of a causal relationship is difficult as well-being and its mediators are complex matters. This case offered a unique opportunity to collect information from the beneficiaries on a range of well-being domains both before the renovation of their dwelling and after the renovation. Even though the research was restricted to short-term effects, the results suggest that improvements in different domains of well-being can be linked to the improvement of housing quality. These improvements in well-being in Ghent show that (local) government spending in housing renovation of locked-in homeowners can be an instrument to achieve social progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how subsidies affect the selection of farms with different risk exposure into insurance products is key to evaluating the efficiency of government‐supported insurance programs. We study the US crop insurance program, which is a major federally supported insurance program, to assess the impact of premium subsidies on the riskiness of the insured. By exploiting two waves of policy changes, we find that the average loss per insured liability falls as premium subsidies increase, which implies that crop producers with lower risk are more responsive to the price of insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tries to disentangle between the influence of R&D subsidy and non-R&D subsidy, and explores the mechanism of different subsidies and their combination on R&D input and output of listed companies in China. It is found that both R&D subsidy and non-R&D subsidy can effectively motivate listed companies to increase R&D investment, and moderate non-R&D subsidy in subsidy combination can strengthen the 'incentive effect' of R&D subsidy on enterprise innovation. R&D subsidies can improve the innovation output of listed companies through direct and indirect 'double paths', but non-R&D subsidies have a certain 'masking effect' on the innovation output. Relevant government should control the non-R&D subsidy at the 'medium and low level' as far as possible to realise the 'strengthening effect' of moderate non-R&D subsidy on R&D subsidy in promoting enterprise innovation. The control of subsidy classification should be strengthened to avoid the adverse effects caused by non-R&D subsidies being 'diverted for other purposes'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]