Is There Always a Negative Causality between Human Health and Environmental Degradation? Current Evidence from Rural China.

This study explores the incidence and trend of zoonoses in China and its relationship with environmental health and proposes suggestions for promoting the long-term sustainable development of human, animal, and environmental systems. The incidence of malaria was selected as the dependent variable, and the consumption of agricultural diesel oil and pesticides and investment in lavatory sanitation improvement in rural areas were selected as independent variables according to the characteristics of nonpoint source pollution and domestic pollution in China's rural areas. By employing a fixed effects regression model, the results indicated that the use of pesticides was negatively associated with the incidence of malaria, continuous investment in rural toilet improvement, and an increase in economic income can play a positive role in the prevention and control of malaria incidence. Guided by the theory of One Health, this study verifies human, animal, and environmental health as a combination of mutual restriction and influence, discusses the complex causal relationship among the three, and provides evidence for sustainable development and integrated governance.

The enterprise's external knowledge acquisition capability and technological diversification: From the perspective of intellectual property strategy.

Enterprises need intellectual property rights to protect their core knowledge, and technological diversification is an important strategic measure for enterprises to improve innovation performance. From the perspective of external resource acquisition, this study explores the mechanism of external knowledge acquisition capability (internal absorptive capability and external relational learning) on firm's technological diversification. It considers the impact of firm's innovation capability and external environmental uncertainty. The survey data of 258 Chinese pharmaceutical companies were obtained through questionnaire surveys, and various theoretical hypotheses were validated using regression analysis methods. The results show that internal absorptive capacity, external relational learning, and their interaction have a significant positive impact on technological diversification; the innovation capacity and the uncertainty of the external environment also affect enterprises' technological diversification.

The Structural Characteristics of Economic Network and Efficiency of Health Care in China.

With the rapid development of the economy of China, the interactivity between provinces and the mobility of the population is increasing. Some patients who could have received the same treatment in their residential areas still choose to receive services in areas with higher economic development and concentrated high-quality medical resources, resulting in a huge waste of medical resources. Blindly increasing medical resources everywhere does not necessarily increase the output effectively. In this study, the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model, social network analysis (SNA), cluster analysis, and regression analysis are used to analyze the structural characteristics of the economic network structure and efficiency of health care in China. The results show that indegree and eigenvector centrality have a significant positive correlation with the efficiency of health care, and the clustering coefficient has a significant negative correlation with the efficiency of health care in China. This study uses a k-means algorithm to classify 31 provinces into three groups and extract their characteristics. As for the supply of health care resources, the government should command and dispatch the resources in the whole country through a top-down design based on the characteristics of each province.

Environmental Regulation, Promotion Pressure of Officials, and Enterprise Environmental Protection Investment.

This study expands on the impact of local government environmental regulation on enterprise environmental protection investment. Furthermore, it analyzes the influence promotion pressure of officials has on the scale of enterprise environmental investment. The results show that the environmental protection investment of companies in China is generally insufficient. The attitude of companies toward environmental protection is passive under the policy regulation. The environmental supervision of the government is also still at a low level. Both of these observations are far from the intentions of the government. There is a U-shaped relationship between the pressure of official promotion and the scale of enterprise environmental protection investment. Only when the pressure of official promotion exceeds a certain limit can it positively stimulate enterprises to invest in environmental protection. Environmental regulation also exerts a threshold effect on the environmental protection investment by enterprises. This research provides a new way to understand the decision-making behavior of local officials and the environmental protection responsibility of enterprises. This study provides recommendations for improving the environment appraisal and government supervision system in China.

Threshold Effect of the Government Intervention in the Relationship Between Business Cycle and Population Health: Evidence From China.

China is an emerging country, and government intervention is always considered as an important part of the solutions when people facing challenges in China. Under the impact of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic and the global economic downturn, the Chinese government quickly brought the epidemic under control and restored the positive economic growth through strong intervention. Based on the panel data of provincial level in China and the government intervention as the threshold variable, this paper empirically analyzed the non-linear effect of business cycle on population health by using the panel threshold regression model. The empirical results show that the impact of the business cycle on population health is significantly negative, and government intervention has a single threshold effect on the relationship between business cycle and population health. When the government intervention is below the threshold value, the business cycle has a significant negative effect on the improvement of the population health level; when the level of government intervention exceeds the threshold value, the relationship between business cycle and population health becomes significantly positive. To some extent, the conclusions of this paper can guide the formulation and revision of government health policy and help to adjust the direction and intensity of government intervention. The Chinese government and other governments of emerging countries should do more to harness the power of state intervention in their response to the business cycle.

Determinants of highly-cited green patents: The perspective of network characteristics.

With the rise of green technology, green patent value evaluation has become critical for enterprises. In order to explore the influencing factors of green patent value, this study takes the light-emitting diode (LED) industry as an example and then utilizes highly-cited green patents as the proxy of green patent value. The study aims to explore the influencing factors of green patent value with network position and structure from the perspective of network characteristics. The results indicate that out-degree centrality and network constraint have a significantly positive effect on green patent value.

Impact of China's Vaccine Incidents on the Operational Efficiency of Biopharmaceutical Companies.

Objectives: This study aims at (1) analyzing the 15 representative biopharmaceutical companies in China before and after the vaccine incidents during the transition period of China's economy, using financial indicators as a proxy for corporate operational efficiency and corporate social responsibility (CSR); (2) analyzing the factors influencing business operational efficiency, and providing a future development strategy for the pharmaceutical industry to better fulfill its social responsibility by studying the relationship between business operational efficiency and social responsibility performance; and (3) conducting a comprehensive analysis of the results of this study, and providing relevant recommendations for biopharmaceutical companies to fulfill their social responsibilities and ensure a high quality of products. Methods and Data: The panel data regression evaluates whether a biopharmaceutical company's social responsibility has an impact on its operational efficiency. A part of the data used in this study is obtained from the quarterly and annual financial statements of biopharmaceutical companies, while other relevant data are obtained from the China Stock Market & Accounting Research (CSMAR) database. Results: A comprehensive regression analysis of the rate of return on total assets shows that the vaccine incidents have made biopharmaceutical companies pay more attention to CSR, as actively taking social responsibility will help establish a better corporate image and form, and increase the operating efficiency. Conclusion: According to the current state of development in China, the size of a company has a positive impact on the improvement of its social responsibility and operational efficiency. The larger the company, the more attention it pays to shareholders and consumers, and the stronger its sense of responsibility to employees and society. By actively undertaking CSR activities, a company will get more support from shareholders, employees, and consumers, and will also enhance the corporate reputation. Biopharmaceutical companies actively undertake social responsibilities toward the government, employees, and shareholders, which will, to some extent, increase the public's trust in drug safety and have different degrees of impact on the overall efficiency of the company.

Regional Disparity of Medical Resources and Its Effect on Mortality Rates in China.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, to empirically study the effects that medical resources (i.e., hospital, doctors, beds) have on the mortality rate in China. Second, to divide China into east, middle, and west regions, and empirically study the regional disparity of medical resources and its effect on mortality rates in China. Methodology and Data: This study utilized a panel data regression model to explore the effect medical resources have on the age-standardized mortality rate in China. The data came from the 2003-2017 China Statistical Yearbook compiled by the National Bureau of Statistics of China. Results: Nationwide, hospitals, doctors, and beds had a significant negative correlation with the mortality rate. In the western region, hospitals, beds, and doctors had a significant negative correlation with the mortality rate. In China's middle and eastern regions, hospitals, beds, and doctors had no significant effect on the mortality rate. In China, increased hospitals, doctors, and beds significantly reduced the mortality rate. The distribution of medical resources in eastern, middle, and western China was unequal. More hospitals, beds, and doctors in the less developed western regions can more effectively alleviate the local mortality rate. In the middle and east regions, hospitals, beds, and doctors had no significant impact on the local mortality rate. Conclusion: First, China's overall medical resources are still inadequate and improving medical resources throughout the country could reduce the mortality rate. Second, due to the imbalanced distribution of medical resources in China, the Chinese government should implement more supportive policies for medical resources in the western region. At the same time, we should also actively develop the western region by improving local per capita GDP and reducing unemployment, so as to fundamentally reduce the local mortality rate.

Can Environmental Regulation Reduce Labor Costs and Improve Business Performance? Evidence From the Air Quality Index.

This study examines selected companies in China from 2012 to 2017 matched with provincial air quality index data and uses ordinary least squares regression to examine the relationship between environmental regulation, air quality, employee compensation, and corporate performance. The study found that, first, environmental regulation has eliminated heavy polluting enterprises and promoted the upgrading of enterprise equipment through the cost increase effect, thereby improving regional air quality. Second, good air quality can increase non-monetary benefits for employees, so that corporate employees' monetary compensation can be kept at a low level. Third, in the aforementioned context, with the significant reduction in employee compensation, corporate performance has increased. This study expands the research on the impact of environmental regulation on corporate behavior and enriches the theoretical literature on employee compensation management. Furthermore, to alleviate the adverse effects of high employee compensation on corporate performance under severe air quality, it provides recommendations moving forward. In addition, this study provides empirical evidence for the development of the concept of "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" from the perspective of labor cost.

Non-linear Impact of China's Economic Growth on the Health of Residents-An Empirical Study Based on TVP-FAVAR Model.

This paper uses the 74-dimensional macroeconomic data set from 2005 to 2017 as a sample to construct a TVP-FAVAR model to empirically study the impact of China's economic growth on the health of residents. The study found that China's economic growth has an impact on the health of residents and is transformed into changes in the macroeconomic environment that exhibit non-linear time-varying characteristics. Specifically: (1) During the period of steady economic growth, China's economic growth has caused a significant increase in population mortality rate, infectious disease mortality rate, medical expenses of residents, traffic accident rate, neonatal mortality rate, and tumor mortality rate; (2) During the financial crisis, the positive impact of economic growth on population mortality rate, infectious disease mortality rate, traffic accident rate, and neonatal mortality rate was significantly reduced, while the medical expenses of residents, tumor mortality rate, and cardiovascular morbidity rate and the incidence of mental illness rate has a more obvious inhibitory effect; (3) In the period of sustained economic downturn, the positive impact of economic growth on overall population mortality rate, infectious disease incidence rate, traffic accident rate, and neonatal mortality rate continues to decrease, still negatively affecting the incidence of mental illness rate and cardiovascular morbidity rate. In this paper, we suggested that the Chinese government further promote the transformation of the economic growth model in the new normal economic stage, increase public health fiscal expenditure, and realize an economic development evaluation system that is oriented toward improving the health of residents.

Network characteristics and patent value-Evidence from the Light-Emitting Diode industry.

This study proposes a different angle to social network analysis that evaluates patent value and explores its influencing factors using the network centrality and network position. This study utilizes a logistic regression model to explore the relationships in the LED industry between patent value and network centrality as measured from out-degree centrality, in-degree centrality, in-closeness centrality, and network position, which is measured from effect size. The empirical result shows that out-degree centrality and in-degree centrality have significant positive effects on patent value and that effect size has a significant negative effect on patent value.

Patent Deployment Strategies and Patent Value in LED Industry.

This study applies two variables in the measurement of company patent deployment strategies: patent family depth and earn plan ratio. Patent family depth represents the degree to which certain fields and markets are valued by the patent owner. Earn plan ratio defined as the ratio of the number of patent forward citations to patent family size. Earn plan ratio indicates the degree to which a patent family could be cited by later innovators and competitors. This study applies a logistic regression model in the analysis LED industry data. The results demonstrate that patent value has a positive relationship with the patent family depth, and earn plan ratio.