Investigating the relationship of government revenue and expenditure on economic growth using a generalized method of moments: Does state-level panel ensure sustainable growth?

The current research project investigates the correlation between economic growth, government spending, and public revenue in seventeen Indian states spanning the years 1990 to 2020. An analysis of the relationship between key fiscal policy variables and economic growth was conducted utilising a panel data approach, the Generalised Method of Moments (GMM), and fully modified Ordinary Least Squares (FMOLS & DOLS) estimation. In our investigation, we assessed the impacts of non-tax revenue, development plan expenditure, tax revenue, and development non-plan expenditure on (i) the net state domestic product (NSDP) and (ii) the NSDP per capita. The findings indicate that the selected fiscal variables are significantly related. The results indicate that expeditious expansion of the fiscal sector is obligatory to stimulate economic growth in India and advance the actual development of the economies of these states.

Systematic evaluation of integration between China's digital economy and sports industry: Two-stage grey relational analysis and vector autoregressive model.

OBJECTIVES: The development of the digital economy constitutes a key component of China's endeavors to advance towards "Digital China." The sports industry functions as a new catalyst for high-quality economic growth. This study systematically evaluated the integration between these two sectors. METHODS: First, we conducted two levels of grey relational analysis to assess their integration between 2016 and 2021. Second, we conducted a VAR analysis to determine whether their integration between 2009 and 2021 represents a causal relationship. RESULTS: At the macro level, the grey relational analysis reveals that the sports industry (grade = 0.770) ranked second among China's eight key economic sectors in terms of digital economy integration. At the meso level, a wide variation (ranging from 0.606 to 0.789) existed in the grade of integration between the digital economy and the sub-sectors of the sports industry. According to the VAR model, the digital economy does not Granger cause (p = 0.344) the growth of the sports industry. CONCLUSIONS: This study yielded two added values to the existing literature: First, there exists a sectoral imbalance in the digitization process; second, the explosive growth of the sports industry was not primarily caused by the digital economy. Accordingly, the "sports + digital" complex is still in the first wave of technological integration. We propose three policy recommendations, namely, sectoral synergistic development, overtaking via esports IP, and new economy and new regulation. Collectively, these findings provide updated insights for the digital transformation towards "building a leading sports nation" and "Digital China."

Ecological niche measurement and high-quality development of "the Belt and Road" core area.

A new stage in promoting the construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt Core Area, and Xinjiang has been transformed from a relatively closed inland area into an open border. In order to promote the high-quality development of Southern Xinjiang and solve the imbalance contradiction between the development of the Northern Xinjiang and Southern Xinjiang, taking the four districts in Southern Xinjiang as the study area, constructing a high-quality development ecological niche index system of three levels, namely economic, social and ecological, adopting the entropy method to assign weights to the evaluation indexes, and measuring the ecological niche width and the degree of ecological niche overlap of this region in the period from 2011 to 2020. The results show that: Firstly, tourism has the greatest impact on the ecological niche of economic development in state N, with a weighting of 14.18%; Secondly, the ecological status width of economic development in state N demonstrates a structural characteristic of "low level and low gap". The average value of ecological niche width is at class III, indicating a low development status and weak regional influence; Thirdly, the ecological niche overlap of state N is significantly influenced by spatial factors. Regions Z and S are closer together, resulting in higher competition for resource utilization and an average ecological niche overlap at class II. The other two regions are at class III. According to the theory of ecological niche expansion and separation, a specialization separation strategy should be adopted for areas with "low width and high overlap", and a strengthening expansion strategy should be adopted for areas with "low width and low overlap", to optimize the structure of ecological niches and promote high-quality development of the region.

Driving force of value reversal in Chinese overleveraged firms: The mechanism and path of private placement.

To stimulate economic growth, China has launched multiple economic stimulus plans in recent years, intensifying corporate debt financing and subsequently elevating the leverage levels. Addressing and effectively reducing the leverage levels of our country's enterprises has emerged as a pressing issue in the trajectory of our economic development. This paper primarily investigates the drivers, pathways, and mechanisms for reversing the over-leveraged values of enterprises. Key findings include: (1) Excessive indebtedness exerts a negative impact on corporate value, with the suppressing effect intensifying as the degree of over-leverage increases; (2) Over-leveraged enterprises can effectively decrease their debt levels and enhance their value through private placement. Further research suggests that this mechanism operates by amplifying the operational leverage of over-leveraged enterprises post private placement and alleviating financing constraints, thereby elevating corporate value. (3) Compared to non-state-owned enterprises, state-owned enterprises exhibit higher levels of indebtedness. Among over-leveraged firms, enhancements in corporate governance and increased investment efficiency can positively transform corporate value. This study offers valuable insights for the ongoing supply-side structural reforms and governance guidance from the regulatory bodies.

The effects of digital economy development on social insurance funds revenue: Evidence from China.

China has experienced rapid development in the digital economy. Using data from 30 provinces in China between 2011 and 2017, this paper constructs a two-way fixed effects model to study the effects and mechanisms of the digital economy development on social insurance funds revenue. An increase of one unit in digital economy development led to a 0.56% increase in basic endowment insurance funds revenue and a 0.33% increase in basic health insurance funds revenue. The digital economy increased the social insurance funds revenue by promoting employment and increasing income. Furthermore, the effects of digital economic development on social insurance funds revenue were heterogeneous for different levels of economic development and urbanization. The conclusions stood after robustness tests by changing the method of weighting the digital economy indicators and using instrumental variables. This paper confirmed the positive role of the development of the digital economy in increasing the revenue of social insurance funds from the perspective of quantitative research and explored the mechanisms in depth. In order to increase social insurance funds revenue, it is essential to accelerate the development of the digital economy, especially in regions with lower economic development and urbanization, and to address the needs of the technically unemployed and those engaged in flexible employment.

Going Green: Climate Change and Health.

The World population doubled from 4 billion humans to 8 billion humans from 1974 to 2022, and it is unlikely to double again. The population of India has now surpassed China, with around 1.4 billion, and we have also already climbed up to become the world's fifth largest economy. Unfortunately, rapid economic development, urbanization, and modernization bring with them deleterious effects on national health, especially if the population does not take preventive measures to protect themselves. Additionally, economic development incorporates rapid industrial and agricultural advances, all of which impact the environment directly.

The coupling coordination between health service supply and regional economy in China: spatio-temporal evolution and convergence.

Background: The coordination of health service supply and regional economy is an integral path to promote China's prosperity. Methods: Based on the coupling mechanism of health service supply and regional economy, we sampled the data from 30 provinces in China from 2009 to 2021 in this study and constructed the evaluation index system. Additionally, we calculated the coupling coordination degree (HED) of the two through the coupling coordination degree model. We further used the kernel density estimation, Moran's I index, and spatial ß convergence model to assess the dynamic evolution trends, spatial aggregation effect, and spatial convergence characteristics of coupling coordination. Conclusion: (1) HED in China showed a rising trend during the study period but with large regional differences, forming a gradient distribution pattern of "high in the east and low in the west." (2) The results of Kernel density estimation show that HED has formed a gradient differentiation phenomenon within each region in China. (3) HED has modeled spatial clustering characteristics during the study period, with high-value clusters mainly appearing in the eastern region and low-value clusters appearing in the northwestern region. (4) There are absolute ß-convergence and conditional ß-convergence trends in HED in China and the three major regions during the study period, but there is an obvious regional heterogeneity in the control factors. The research provides a reference for accurately implementing policies according to different levels of health service supply and economic development, in addition to narrowing the regional differences of the coupling coordination between the regional economy and health service supply.

Addressing the elephant in the room: economic growth and the nation's poor health - changing the economy's goal for a healthier future.

This opinion piece focuses on how in order to improve the nation's poor health, the government needs to place more value on social justice and wellbeing as well as the use of regulation to positively change culture and health behaviour.

A comprehensive analysis of key factors' impact on environmental performance: Evidence from Globe by novel super learner algorithm.

This study aims to analyze comprehensively the impact of different economic and demographic factors, which affect economic development, on environmental performance. In this context, the study considers the Environmental Performance Index as the response variable, uses GDP per capita, tariff rate, tax burden, government expenditure, inflation, unemployment, population, income tax rate, public debt, FDI inflow, and corporate tax rate as the explanatory variables, examines 181 countries, performs a novel Super Learner (SL) algorithm, which includes a total of six machine learning (ML) algorithms, and uses data for the years 2018, 2020, and 2022. The results demonstrate that (i) the SL algorithm has a superior capacity with regard to other ML algorithms; (ii) gross domestic product per capita is the most crucial factor in the environmental performance followed by tariff rates, tax burden, government expenditure, and inflation, in order; (iii) among all, the corporate tax rate has the lowest importance on the environmental performance followed by also foreign direct investment, public debt, income tax rate, population, and unemployment; (iv) there are some critical thresholds, which imply that the impact of the factors on the environmental performance change according to these barriers. Overall, the study reveals the nonlinear impact of the variables on environmental performance as well as their relative importance and critical threshold. Thus, the study provides policymakers valuable insights in re-formulating their environmental policies to increase environmental performance. Accordingly, various policy options are discussed.

Differences in tourism economic development and its influencing factors among three major city clusters along the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

An in-depth study of the mechanisms governing the generation, evolution, and regulation of differences in tourism economics holds significant value for the rational utilization of tourism resources and the promotion of synergistic tourism economic development. This study utilizes mathematical statistical analysis and GIS spatial analysis to construct a single indicator measure and a comprehensive indicator measure to analyze tourism-related data in the research area from 2004 to 2019. The main factors influencing the spatial and temporal differences in the tourism economy are analyzed using two methods, namely, multiple linear regression and geodetector. The temporal evolution, overall differences and differences within each city group fluctuate downwards, while the differences between groups fluctuate upwards. Domestic tourism economic differences contribute to over 90% of the overall tourism economic differences. Spatial divergence, the proportion of the tourism economy accounted for by spatial differences is obvious, the comprehensive level of the tourism economy can be divided into five levels. The dominant factors in the formation of the pattern of spatial and temporal differences in the tourism economy are the conditions of tourism resources based on class-A tourist attractions and the level of tourism industry and services based on star hotels and travel agencies. This study addresses the regional imbalance of tourism economic development in city clusters and with the intent of promoting balanced and high-quality development of regional tourism economies.

Spatial network characteristics and economic effects of element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration.

The spatial characteristics of element flow and its spillover are important topics in economics, sociology, and geography, and significant to the promotion of the coordinated development of urban agglomerations. To study element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration and its effect to economic development, the spatial network characteristics and economic spillover effect were studied using the methods of spatial network analysis, the spatial Durbin model, and spatial effect decomposition. The results showed that (1) the scale of element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration is in an unbalanced distribution state, the scale of element flow in Lanzhou and Xining is higher than that in surrounding cities, and the connection between surrounding cities is also higher than that between other cities; (2) the network structure of element flow in the Lanxi urban agglomeration is relatively intensive, with Lanzhou and Xining as the center of element concentration, which indicates an obvious 'center periphery' structure, and gradually spreads from the core area to the surrounding areas; and (3) the element concentration level of the Lanxi urban agglomeration has a significant positive spillover effect, which plays a significant role in driving the development of surrounding cities. Other factors, such as the social consumption level, have significant direct effects, whereas the industrial structure and residents' income have significant direct and spillover effects, and are the main factors that affect the coordinated development of the regional economy.

Can energy saving and emission reduction policies promote green transformation of industrial enterprises--The Case of China.

In the context of the continued advancement of the green economy transition, the proactive pursuit of carbon emissions reduction and the early attainment of carbon neutrality goals have emerged as essential components in promoting high-quality economic development. Not only does it contribute to the creation of a community of human destiny, but it is also vital to the realization of sustainable development for human civilization. A dynamic evolutionary game model, which encompasses the interactions among government, enterprises, and the public, was constructed to examine the inherent impact mechanisms of the behavior of three players on the development of a green economy under the context of energy saving and emission reduction subsidies. The results showed that the incentive and punishment mechanisms served as effective tools for harmonizing the interests of system members. Within the mechanisms, the public demonstrated a higher sensitivity to rewards, while enterprises exhibited greater responsiveness to fines. Consequently, the government could influence the behavior of enterprises by incentivizing the public to serve as a third-party inquiry and oversight body. Simultaneously, the government could encourage enterprises to expedite green technology innovation by employing a combination of incentive and punishment mechanisms.

How can low-carbon help high-quality urban development?-Empirical evidence from low-carbon city pilot policies.

High-quality development is the paramount task for comprehensively building a socialist modernized country. The low-carbon city pilot policy, with cities as the unit of action, provides new opportunities for high-quality economic transformation. Based on panel data from 261 cities between 2005 and 2018, this study calculates the level of high-quality economic development in Chinese cities, constructs a multi-period difference-in-differences model, analyzes the impact of the low-carbon city pilot policy on high-quality economic development, and explores the policy's heterogeneous effects on high-quality development in different types of cities and its transmission mechanism. The research findings show that the low-carbon city pilot policy can significantly promote high-quality economic development in cities and has heterogeneous effects in terms of regional differences, city types, and city scale. The effects are relatively greater in the eastern region, non-resource-based cities, and mega-cities. The low-carbon city pilot policy promotes high-quality economic development through mechanisms such as technological progress effects, resource agglomeration effects, and government action improvement effects. Combining theoretical analysis with empirical results, this study proposes policy recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of the low-carbon city pilot policy in promoting high-quality development.

Green innovation and enterprise digital transformation: Escape from the "dilemma" of development and governance choices.

The digital economy is now the expected norm for economic development, warranting strategic importance for enterprise digital transformation. Nonetheless, enterprises have a lengthy journey to embark upon for digital transformation. On the one hand, resource-based demands pose a significant challenge due to the development characteristics of the initiative; on the other hand, excessive emphasis on economic gains may result in severe environmental issues. Therefore, this paper examines whether green innovation, which combines environmental and economic benefits, can effectively address the above dilemma. The study includes all A-share listed companies from 2010 to 2020 as the research sample, and empirically investigates the impact of green innovation on enterprise digital transformation and its mechanism based on resource-based view. The study concluded that (i) green innovation has a significant positive impact on corporate digital transformation performance, exhibiting asymmetric effects. The robustness tests confirmed the validity of the findings. (ii) Enterprises that actively engage in green innovation can effectively reduce their financial constraints, enhance their operational capacity, and enable the efficient allocation of resources, thereby promoting digital transformation within the enterprise. (iii) There is a regional imbalance in the conversion of green innovation performance into economic performance. The aforementioned results offer fresh insights for investigating the connection between green innovation and digital transformation. Additionally, these findings hold significant implications for the discourse on the synergistic advancement of the environment and economy.

The impact of digital inclusive financial development on local government expenditure: Evidence from China.

This paper investigates the impact of digital inclusive financial development on local government expenditure incentives at the income level. It does so by constructing a multi-level government Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model that incorporates the financial sector. By employing empirical methods that involve uncertainty shocks and counterfactual simulations, the research yields several key findings. Firstly, the development of digital inclusive finance contributes to breaking down the urban-rural dual financial structure, thus facilitating balanced economic development within regions. Secondly, it reduces the proportion of financially excluded areas, accelerates fiscal decentralization, leading to an increase in local government fiscal revenue, and, consequently, an expansion of local fiscal expenditures. Thirdly, at a certain stage of digital inclusive finance development, it tends to crowd out residents' investment and consumption. Therefore, the decentralization of fiscal power and the expansion of local government expenditure at this stage may paradoxically inhibit regional economic growth. The study's conclusions validate the significant impact of digital inclusive finance on local government incentives at the income level.

International comparison of China's digitalization level and its enlightenment.

The global digital wave has flourished in recent years, and the digital technology revolution has emerged. Digitalization plays an undeniable role in promoting modern economic and social development in multiple aspects such as economy, society, innovation, public services and sustainable development, China's digitalization application is also developing rapidly. In order to better measure the current situation of China's digitalization development level, this paper constructs a comprehensive evaluation index system of digitalization development from four dimensions of talents in the digital field, digital infrastructure construction, digitalization innovation ability and international competitiveness, and tests the index system. The entropy method is used to measure the level of digitalization development between China and the United States, the United Kingdom, France and other major developed countries in the world, and the coefficient of variation method, kernel density estimation and Dagum Gini coefficient method are used to analyze the temporal and spatial characteristics and regional differences of digitalization development level of seven countries. This paper makes a comparative analysis between China and major developed countries from the historical perspective of the evolution of the techno-economic paradigm. With a view to summarizing and exploring from it and drawing on the advanced experiences accumulated by the developed countries over a long period of time, so as to provide China with useful insights and bases for further enhancing its digitalization development level.

The impact of population aging on SME digital transformation: Evidence from China.

Many societies around the world are rapidly aging and this has implications for social and economic development. We collect data on NEEQ-listed enterprises from 2010 to 2021 in China and empirically test the effect of population aging on the digital transformation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The findings show that population aging has a significant positive impact on SME digital transformation, and private enterprises and enterprises in eastern regions of China tend to benefit more than other regions. The mechanism studies find that population aging positively impacts SME digital transformation by increasing labor costs, facilitating human capital accumulation, and raising savings rates. Furthermore, the threshold effect analyses find that the marginal promotion effect of population aging will weaken with greater aging and will strengthen with a higher level of marketization. Finally, we provide policy recommendations for promoting digital transformation in SMEs against the background of population aging.

Quality of life and regional economic development: Evidence from China.

With the development of China's economy entering a new stage, the quality of life, which centers on the well-being of residents, provides an essential hand in promoting the transformation of the regional economy from high-speed development to high-quality development. Based on a panel threshold regression model, we examine in this paper whether quality of life helps regional economies realize developmental convergence. The research shows that: (1) The quality of life overall can promote regional economic development and passes the series test with relatively robust results. (2) The quality of life has a non-linear effect on regional economic growth, which is mainly manifested in the fact that the impact is more significant in regions with higher levels of quality of life and weaker in regions with lagging quality of life and may widen the gap between regions at the same time. (3) We categorize the study regions to test further regional heterogeneity based on regional location and development status. At the Quality of Life Level-I regions, their influence on economic development has a more substantial pulling effect. Therefore, each region should seize the strategic opportunity to improve the quality of life, focus on the balanced development of the quality of life, strengthen policy support and social security, and strive to promote the coordinated development of China's regional economy.

Exploring the nexus between FDI inflows and economic growth: A sectoral level analysis.

This study investigates the relationship between Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows and economic growth at sectoral levels in Bangladesh, employing a panel study framework. Utilizing sectoral-level panel data spanning six sectors from 2007-08 to 2018-19, the analysis is conducted using Panel Vector Error Correction Model (Panel VECM). Results from panel unit root tests confirm that all variables are integrated of order one I (1), indicating stationarity. The Pedroni panel co-integration test further supports the presence of co-integration among the variables. Notably, the Panel VECM reveals evidence of a unidirectional causal relationship from Real Gross Domestic Product (RGDP) to Real Foreign Direct Investment (RFDI) across all six sectors of Bangladesh. The findings underscore the significance of formulating pragmatic policies and implementing them effectively to attract FDI across sectors, thereby contributing to the overall economic growth of Bangladesh.

The ESG performance influence mechanism analysis-based on empirical analysis.

ESG has emerged as a prominent method for evaluating enterprises, gaining increasing importance in recent years. It assesses a company's ability to promote sustainable economic development and fulfill its social responsibilities, encompassing three non-financial dimensions: environmental, social, and corporate governance. Regulatory authorities, industry associations, and investment institutions worldwide have placed growing emphasis on a company's ESG performance. From the perspective of career concern, this study conducted a multiple regression analysis using data from Chinese A-share companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen from 2011 to 2020. It used CEO shareholding and CEO political affiliation as moderating variables to examine the impact of CEO career concerns on the corporate environment, society, and corporate governance performance. Empirical testing of whether CEO career concerns promote or suppress the ESG performance in enterprises. The findings of this study reveal that CEOs with heightened career concerns tend to impede the ESG performance of their respective enterprises. Additionally, CEO shareholding and political affiliations exert a negative moderating influence on the relationship between CEO career concerns and ESG performance. This research significantly extends the investigation into factors influencing ESG performance, offering fresh perspectives that could inform improved CEO oversight, foster corporate transformation, and enhance ESG performance.