Evaluating social governance innovation policy in China: A study based on fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis.

Social governance is an important aspect of national governance. Strengthening and innovating social governance is an important task to promote social construction, and the necessary policy support is an important means to achieve governance innovation. Based on the policy texts of 31 urban districts (including 22 provincial capitals, 4 municipalities directly under the Central Government and 5 capitals of autonomous regions), the innovation policy of social governance is divided into five dimensions: organizational mobilization policy, public service policy, social regulatory policy, community constructive policy and data informative policy. Using the fs-QCA method, the path of social governance innovation policy on governance performance is discussed. The study finds that the supply mode of two innovative policy combinations have a significant effect on the improvement of social governance performance: One is organizational mobilization policy, public service policy and community constructive policy, and the other is organizational mobilization policy, social regulatory policy and data informative policy.

Evaluation of the concerns of Spanish university students in the face of current major challenges.

The concerns of students and young people have been on the rise in recent years. Recent events such as the Covid-19 pandemic or the invasion of Ukraine have contributed to this. Mental health, the high cost of living, the need to re-evaluate the way we work or the fight against climate change are among the main concerns of young people. The aim of this work is to find out the level of concern of university students about these problems that can condition their current life and to analyze whether these concerns can affect their academic performance, also distinguishing according to gender and age. To this end, a nationwide survey was carried out among this group in Spain. This work is the first of its kind to be carried out in Spain. The results obtained may be of great use to both educational institutions and government agents, with a view to offering policies that will improve the educational level and welfare of university students.

Whether the green credit policy effectively promote green transition of enterprises in China? Empirical analysis and mechanism verification.

Promoting green and low-carbon development has become the consensus of the policymakers and the academic, with green transformation of enterprises being the top priority. This paper adopts the difference-in-difference model to investigate the effect of green credit policy on green transition in China, by utilizing the "Green Credit Guidelines" (2012 Guidelines) policy as a quasi-natural experiment. Using panel data from publicly listed companies in China, an empirical investigation is conducted, we explain the dependent variable from two dimensions: economic performance and environmental performance, leading to the following results. First, the green credit policy affects the economic performance and environmental performance of treated firms positively, and the robust tests confirm the reliability of this primary conclusion. Second, the indirect impact of green credit policy on green transition can be explained through two mediating mechanism channels including internal capacity building and external market attention. In addition, the proposal of "Dual Carbon Targets" makes the impact a slight change. Finally, heterogeneous test also shows that the implementation effect of green credit policy is better in non-state-owned enterprises with high political relevance. These findings are providing valuable insights to promote green transition by designing more effective green credit policies.

Analyzing the low carbon and pro-environment behavior of agricultural enterprises based on organizational commitment and role models' guidance.

Climate change has always been a core issue in the field of agricultural security. From the perspective of "passive adaptation" and "active change," climate response is manifested as climate "adaptation behavior" and "low carbon and pro-environment behavior" respectively. In the long run, low carbon and pro-environment behavior make more sense. As an indispensable part of the modern agricultural management system, agricultural enterprises are the core power to promote the organic reorganization of various agricultural production factors, and the optimal low carbon and pro-environmental behavior is the key to the implementation of national ecological environmental protection policies. The purpose of this paper is to reveal the mechanism of pro-environment behavior of organization members based on the organizational background of agricultural enterprises. Taking advantage of 189 valid survey data of agricultural enterprises, structural equation model was used to explore the effects of organizational commitment and role models' guidance on low carbon and pro-environment behavior. Results show that organizational commitment has a significant positive effect on the low carbon and pro-environment behavior of agricultural enterprises. And what is not expected is that role models' guidance has a significant negative effect on the low carbon and pro-environment behavior of agricultural enterprises, and organizational commitment has a negative impact on the low carbon and pro-environment behavior of agricultural enterprises through role models' guidance. Recommendations such as practicing green culture and enhancing emotional engagement; fostering social responsibility and strengthening normative commitment; providing a fair path and increasing the influence of role models; improving the selection system of role models and also the criteria; improving the level of leadership and achieving high quality interaction or creating a business environment are proposed.

Integrating immersive experience into hybrid education: a case study in fintech experimental education.

The fintech (financial technology) employment market presents significant barriers to entry, including rigorous selection criteria based on factors such as profitability, risk, security, and confidentiality, which limit students' opportunities to enter the industry. The negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated the challenges faced by the fintech employment market in China. Consequently, it is crucial to assist fintech students in enhancing their professional abilities to navigate the job market successfully. Virtual reality is gaining increasing importance in educational fields due to its immersive virtual simulation capabilities. In this study, a hybrid fintech course was designed based on the principles of outcome-based education theory and the flipped classroom model. The project objective was to provide students with virtual training and project-based assessments that facilitate a seamless transition from theoretical knowledge to practical application in the industry. To evaluate the effectiveness of hybrid education, a comparative user experiment was conducted involving 60 participants (students) from Guangdong University of Finance. The study used median data, average data, and the entropy weight method for analysis. The results indicated that hybrid education has a positive impact on individual-level critical thinking, communication, and teamwork skills. We believe that our study can provide critical data references for global online/hybrid education researchers and contribute to the education field.

The impact of public awareness, infrastructure, and technological development with economic growth on solid waste management of European countries: does governance quality matters.

Solid waste generation is a significant problem affecting the ecosystem, human health, and safety. However, the issue is not given the attention it truly deserves. Consequently, this study is aimed at assessing the impact of various factors, such as economic growth, public awareness, infrastructure, and technological advancements, on generating municipal waste in the European Union (EU) for the period 1995-2020. Furthermore, the study incorporated the mediating effect of economic growth and government effectiveness with public awareness, infrastructure, and technological development to reduce waste generation. By employing the bias-corrected method of moments, the study finds that overall waste generation does not decrease over time in EU economies. Furthermore, Denmark is the top-ranked country among the sampled countries to generate waste. However, Finland is at the top in government effectiveness. The empirical findings showed that economic growth is the significant reason for the increase in solid waste production. Additionally, the interaction effects of economic growth with public awareness, infrastructure, and technological development are positive. However, the individual impact of public awareness, infrastructure, and technological development is positive in reducing waste generation. Governance effectiveness is a significant tool to lower waste generation in European economies.

Is geopolitics a new risk to environmental policy in the European union?

Geopolitical risks and environmental policy have become increasingly important in the European Union (EU), which is committed to tackling climate change and protecting the environment. However, geopolitical risks can undermine its environmental policy objectives. Thus, the study evaluates the relationship between geopolitical risks and environmental policy in nineteen EU countries from 1994 to 2020 through panel bootstrap Granger causality. The results show that geopolitical risks significantly influence environmental policy in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and Romania. On the other hand, the findings reveal that environmental policy causes geopolitical risks only in Latvia, while there is no relationship in the remaining countries. Therefore, policymakers must develop resilience to geopolitical risks, promote renewable energy, strengthen environmental regulations, and address social and economic implications to reduce environmental policy vulnerability to geopolitical risks.

Public Debt in the Spanish Municipalities: Drivers and Policy Proposals.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the local debt in Spanish municipalities with negative consequences on the macroeconomic financial stability at national and eurozone level. The main objective is to identify the causes of public debt per capita in four groups of Spanish municipalities according to size. It is based on a quantitative analysis based on correlational and causal-comparative approaches. It consists in the construction of panel quantile regressions (MMQ) and mean group (ME) estimators to explain public debt per capita in Spanish municipalities. Moreover, the Juodis test for causality analysis in panel data is applied. The research is constructed around various types of potential determinants related to economic factors (GDP per capita and unemployment rate), demographic factors (population under 15 and population over 65), and political factors (political party, ideology, and political strength). The results based on MMQR for the period 2011-2020 indicate common factors that reduce local debt (short-run economic growth), but also differences between clusters in what concerns factors that increase or decrease the debt. The Juodis et al. (2021) test shows that growth and unemployment are factors that influence the level of public debt in all groups of municipalities except one (5001-20,000 inhabitants) where political party affects debt. These empirical findings support policy proposals to reduce the local debt in Spanish municipalities. The main initiatives to reduce debt should be based on the promotion of economic growth and creation of new jobs, especially for young people.

Does green credit really increase green technology innovation?

Considering China's green credit policy (GCP) as a quasi-natural experiment, this study discusses the effect of GCP on enterprise green innovation (GI) using a difference-in-difference method based on data from Chinese listed companies from 2009 to 2020. The results indicate that green credit enhances the strategic GI of heavy polluters while significantly inhibiting essential GI, thus suggesting the nonexistence of the Porter effect. In addition, the inhibition effect is attributed to an increase in financing constraints and a reduction in government subsidies, firm research and development investment, and employment scale. This disincentive effect is particularly pronounced in privately owned firms, small cities, and capital-intensive low-profitability firms. Resource misallocation caused by the GCP fails to stimulate the green transformation of heavily polluting industries through the Porter effect. Hence, governments should establish a diversified green financial system, integrate green venture capital and GI elements, and guide the flow of social capital toward green industries.

Pollution and electricity price in the EU Central and Eastern European countries: a sectoral approach.

Pollution and energy crisis are actual issues in Europe, including the EU Central and Eastern European states. In this context, the objective of this paper is to assess the impact of economic growth and electricity prices for non-household consumers on pollution. The empirical findings reveal the U pattern for energy industry and inverted U pattern for manufacturing in the period 2007-2021 in the EU countries from Central and Eastern Europe. Renewable energy consumption reduces the CO2 and GHG emissions in energy industry. FDI and electricity prices determine the reduction in GHG and CO2 emissions in both sectors. These results are the basis for policy recommendations.

The impact of logistic environment and spatial spillover on agricultural economic growth: An empirical study based on east, central and west China.

BACKGROUND: To vigorously promote the integrated development and mutual adaptation of agriculture and logistics is an important way to realize agricultural modernization and rural revitalization. Along with the policy support of agricultural industry chain and the steady rise of the demand for agricultural products market, the total amount of agricultural product logistics continues to increase, and the growth rate remains stable. With the booming development of "Internet + agriculture" and e-commerce platform, agricultural logistic market welcomes a new round of development opportunities, reaching several trillion yuan. Compared with the developed countries, our agricultural product logistics is still far behind. At present, only 15% of vegetables and fruits and 30% of fresh meat have professional logistic transportation, while most of the rest are still in the state of local and primitive. The gap of logistic environment construction and logistic elements determines the difference in final benefit of agricultural products. The purpose of this study is to find out the influence of logistic elements on regional agricultural economic growth, and whether the influence between neighboring regions presents "the same prosperity", "the same loss" or "sharing weal and woe". METHODS: Based on the panel data of the statistical yearbook of 31 provinces in China from 2005 to 2020, the spatial Durbin model was constructed under the spatial weight matrix of economic distance and economic geographical distance to conduct empirical analysis, and the internal factors of logistics industry, factor spillover effect and its impact on agricultural economic growth were studied. RESULTS: Results showed that: (1) considering economic distance factor, the spatial coefficient of the time-fixed effects model passed the significance test in eastern China. Considering economic geographic distance factors, the individual and double fixed effect models passed the significance test in central China, and all models passed the significance test in western China. (2) From the perspective of logistic infrastructure, AVLFA, HM, TN and RM had a positive effect on the growth of agricultural economy in eastern China, but LIAV is on the contrary. AVLFA had a positive effect on agricultural economic growth, but TN was on the contrary in central China. In western China, LIAV and TN promoted agricultural economy while HM and RM held back it. From the perspective of the volume of logistics activity, both eastern and central regions did not pass the significance test, but FA was tested by the double fixed effect model and showed negative in western China. From the perspective of control variables, FU, AO and PT all promoted agricultural economy in eastern China, and FU and AO did the same in central and western China. PT was invalid in central regions and hindered agricultural economy in western China, which was different. CONCLUSION: From the perspective of spatial spillover effect decomposition, the eastern region presents "one prosperity and all prosperity, and sharing weal and woe", while the central and western regions present "one prosperity and all prosperity, and one lost and all lost". At last suggestions as formulating the overall plan for the development of regional logistics, paying attention to regional differences and promoting coordinated development of logistics and agriculture in light of local conditions, and paying attention to the spatial spillover effect of elements were put forward.

Pollution, political instabilities and electricity price in the CEE countries during the war time.

Pollution, war and energy crisis are the CEE countries' most important global actual issues. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the impact of political stability and electricity price in 11 CEE countries in the period 2007-2021 to anticipate the effect of these factors on pollution in times of political and energy crisis. The common results based on DOLS/FMOLS and CCEMG estimations indicate that political stability enhances CO2 emissions, while higher electricity prices for non-household consumers reduce pollution. An inverted-U pattern was observed in the relationship between growth and pollution, while renewable energy consumption is the most powerful tool to reduce CO2 emissions. These results are the starting point for policy recommendations.

Can financial efficiency and environmental regulation promote R&D innovation? From the perspective of value chain decomposition.

There is a plethora of current research on economic or financial resources for fostering innovation. These studies lack the micro-analysis and, more importantly, disregard the effect of environmental control. This study will offer a new analytical paradigm by linking financial growth, environmental regulation, and innovation growth throughout the value chain. Using the information on 30 Chinese provinces collected between 1990 and 2020, we develop a dynamic panel data model to examine the interplay between financial effectiveness, ecological regulation, and research and development (R&D) innovation. We assess the impact that the efficiency of financial organizations and the stock market have on R&D's ability to influence R&D innovation. There are positive spillover effects for stock market efficiency, which boosts the development and conversion of R&D innovation; there are positive spillover effects for financial institution efficiency, which hurts the conversion of R&D innovation, and there is an adverse effect on environmental regulation efficiency. To what extent environmental rules affect the commercialization of research and development innovation is unclear; human capital is an effective motivator for the advancement of R&D innovation, and the volume of FDI may increase the commercialization of R&D innovation.

Renewable Energy Consumption-Growth Nexus in European Countries: A Sectoral Approach.

The renewable energy consumption plays a significant role in achieving sustainable development, but a sectoral approach is necessary to design the better recommendations for each sector. In this context, the main objective of this paper is to assess the impact of the use of this type of energy on economic growth in 23 European Union (EU) member states in the period 1990-2020. Besides overall renewable energy consumption, different utilisations of this energy are considered: in industry, transport, in commercial and public services, and for residential purposes. The methodological background is built around panel data models that start from a Cobb-Douglas function. The renewable energy consumption is considered an important factor that should generate economic growth. The panel data approach based on causality analysis and Augmented Mean Group and Common Correlated Effects Mean Group estimators suggests that renewable energy use in industry does not determine economic growth, but economic development is a cause for more utilisation of this energy in industry. In addition, more renewable energy consumption in transport enhances economic growth. A high level of economic development can promote the consumption of renewable energies in industrial sectors. In this way, industrial companies can allocate more financial funds to research in the field of renewable energies and can afford to adopt renewable energy sources. Investment in biofuels can contribute to achieving sustainable transport in the EU.

Effect of Population Density and Economic Indicators on COVID-19 Death Rates in the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

OBJECTIVE: The countries of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC, by its initials in Spanish) have been some of the most affected by COVID-19. This paper analyzes whether, in the 33 CELAC countries, population density, together with other economic variables, such as gross domestic product (GDP) at purchasing power parity (PPP) values or the Human Development Index (HDI), were significantly associated with the coronavirus mortality rate. METHODS: A correlation analysis and an ordinary least squares regression model were used to analyze the effects of different variables on the COVID-19 mortality rate. RESULTS: The results showed that countries with higher numbers of inhabitants per square kilometer had lower death rates. Gross domestic product was not associated with the number of deaths, while the HDI had a positive impact on that number. CONCLUSION: Countries with high population density are not more vulnerable to COVID-19, as population density allows for economic development and better-designed institutions.

Determinants of local government deficit: evidence from Spanish municipalities.

Understanding the determinants of fiscal deficits is justified by the fact that persistent deficits rapidly lead to the accumulation of public debt. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyze the factors that explained the fiscal deficits of Spanish municipalities in the period 2011-2020. The deficit at the municipal level for Spain is explained by considering several determinants covering socioeconomic and political dimensions, such as GDP per capita, unemployment rate, population, political participation, political sign of the ruling party or political force, among others. The method of moments quantile regression (MMQ) and mean group (MG) estimator are applied for the overall sample and for each group of municipalities. In addition, the causality between the deficit and the explanatory variables is analyzed using the Juodis et al. (2021) test. It is found that economic growth only has a long-term beneficial effect on the deficit as it reduces the deficit at all quantile levels except at the 10% quantile. Unemployment increases the deficit in both the short and long run. Political participation and right-wing political parties contribute to the growth of the deficit in the higher quantiles. To reduce the budget deficit, the analysis shows that unemployment should be reduced and economic growth should be boosted. The results are robust to those based on mean group estimators. With this paper, we contribute to the scarce literature on deficit determinants by analyzing the determinants for Spanish municipalities. Furthermore, our findings have important implications for politicians, citizens and stakeholders.

Forecasting National and Regional Youth Unemployment in Spain Using Google Trends.

In Spain, the youth unemployment rate is one of the highest in the European Union. With the pandemic caused by Covid-19, young people face high unemployment rates and are more vulnerable to a decrease in labour demand. This paper analyses and predicts youth unemployment using Google Trends indices in Spain for the period between the first quarter of 2004 and the second quarter of 2021, being the first work to carry out this study for Spain and the first to use the regional approach for the country. Vector autoregressive Bayesian models and vector error correction models have been used for national data, and Bayesian panel data models and fixed effects model for regional data. The results confirm that forecasts based on Google Trends data are more accurate in predicting the youth unemployment rate.

Is Environmental Pollution Associated with an Increased Number of COVID-19 Cases in Europe?

COVID-19 has caused an unprecedented crisis, resulting in a global pandemic with millions infected and dying. Given the importance given to sustainability and the reduction in pollutant gases in recent years, the main objective of this study was to determine whether pollutant emissions are associated with an increased number of COVID-19 cases in Europe. Other demographic variables that may have an impact on the number of coronavirus cases, such as population density, average age or the level of restrictive policies implemented by governments, are also included. It has been shown that the emission of carbon monoxide pollutant gases and pollutant emissions from transport positively affect the incidence of COVID-19, so that the sustainable policy implemented in recent years in Europe should be reinforced, and tougher sanctions and measures should be imposed when pollution thresholds are exceeded.

European Union policies and their role in combating climate change over the years.

The worrying environmental situation and increased public awareness in recent years have led many countries to take measures to reduce negative impacts on the environment. The European Union (EU) has been one of the most active in environmental protection with the formulation of policies aimed at preserving the health and well-being of citizens and protecting natural resources. One of the objectives of environmental policies is to make the economy of its member states more environmentally friendly, although this requires finding solutions to major challenges such as climate change, the scarcity of natural resources, the emission of polluting gases, and unsustainable consumption and production. This article reviews the main policies that have been implemented in the EU to reduce environmental problems and the scope of climate change conferences. It offers solutions to promote sustainability that could be adopted by companies, individuals, and governmental institutions to jointly contribute to achieving a more sustainable world, where problems such as climate change or the emission of polluting gases are minimized. The aim is to follow the principles of the Circular Economy and the European Green Deal.